By Philemon Adedeji
Nigerian Equities Market maintained negative posture to open the week in the red zone as the key market indicator dipped further by 35.21 basis points amid flat market breadth.
The NGX All-Share Index dipped by 0.07 per cent to close at 49,440.21 basis points as against 0.13 per cent loss recorded previously to close at 49,475.42 basis points at the end of the last trading session. Specifically the market capitalisation lost N18.99 billion to close at N26.667 trillion.
The total volume traded declined by 37.33 per cent to close at 67.37 million units, valued at N1.48 billion and traded in 3,386 deals. FBNH was the most traded stock by volume with 9.67 million units traded while SEPLAT was also the most traded stock by value which is put at N615.12 million.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative as ix (6) NGX sector index closed northward, seven (7) closed southward while five (5) closed flat. The NGX MERIVAL Index inched up by 0.50 per cent to top the gainers chart while the NGX Oil and Gas Index dipped by 1.94 per cent to top the losers’ chart.
At the close of trade on Monday, market recorded 11 gainers equals 11 losers.
ETRANZACT topped the list of gainers while ABCTRANS topped the list of losers.
Thus, market breadth closed flat as the Market Breadth Index (MBI) is put at 0.00x.
ETranzact recorded has the most gainer which appreciated by 9.97 per cent to close at N3.20 per share, as followed by Academy Press which rose by 9.52 per cent to close at N1.84 per share while Vitafoam which recorded as the best third gainer grew by 5 per cent to close at N21 per share.
Honeyflour went up by 3.36 per cent to close at N2.46 per share and Cornerst which recorded by last fifth gainer up by 3.33 per cent to close at N0.62 per share.
On the other hand, Abstrans emerged as the most loser with a dip of 10 per cent to close at N0.27 per share, as UPL followed with a decrease of 9.44 per cent to close at N1.63 per share, while Mutual Benefit Assurance depreciated by 6.90 per cent to close at N0.27 per share.
Rt.briscoe dropped by 6.25 per cent to close at N0.30 per share and Courtville Business Solution went down by 6.12 per cent to close at N0.46 per share
Transaction in the share of First Bank holding topped the activities chart with 9.672 million share worth 96.556 million, followed by Zenith Bank which transacted 9.252 million share valued at 182.384 million, While Guaranty Trust Holding Company traded 6.112 million share valued at 120.396 million.
Mutual Benefit Assurance accounted 4.487 million share worth 1.246 million and Sovereign Insurance accounted 2.954 million share valued at 797, 719.
First Bank Holdings led the volume’s chart with 14.36 per cent contribution and closely followed by Zenith Bank and GTCO.