NGX opens week in red, down by 0.06%

The Nigerian equities market started the week’s trading on a negative note due to profit taking on some banking stocks.

All-Share Index on Monday lost 29.08 points or 0.06 per cent to close at 45,928.27 from 45,957.35 recorded on Friday.

Accordingly, the year-to-date gain moderated to 7.5 per cent.

Also, the market capitalisation which opened at N24.760 trillion dipped N12 billion to close at N24.749 trillion.

The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Nigerian Breweries, United Capital, NEM Insurance, FBN Holdings and Zenith Bank.

Market sentiment remained negative with 26 laggards, relative to 15 gainers.

Regency Alliance Insurance led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 9.52 per cent to close at 38k per share.

FTN Cocoa Processors followed with 7.69 per cent to close at 36k, while NEM Insurance lost 5.41 per cent to close at N3.50 per share.

Sovereign Trust Insurance declined by 4.17 per cent to close at 23k, while Cutix shed four per cent to close at N2.40 per share.

On the other hand, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank dominated the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 9.62 per cent to close at N1.14 per share.

Northern Nigeria Flour Mills followed with 9.49 per cent to close at N8.65, while Academy Press rose by 9.09 per cent to close at 72k per share.

Courteville Business Solutions was up by 8.70 per cent to close at 50k, while Associated Bus Company appreciated by 5.88 per cent to close at 36k per share.

Also, the total volume of trades decreased by 1.06 per cent to 278.61 million units valued at N2.89 billion exchanged in 4,447 deals.

This was against a total of 281.59 million shares worth N2.41 billion shares traded in 3,739 deals on Friday.

Transactions in the shares of Chams topped the activity chart with 40.55 million shares valued at N8.12 million.

United Bank for Africa followed with 35.12 million shares worth N284.74 million, while Courteville Business Solutions traded 33.33 million shares valued at N16.55 billion.

Sterling Bank traded 18.78 million shares worth N30.10 million, while Access Bank transacted 17.07 million shares worth N166.41 million.