By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded a 1.71 percent loss on Monday after the market achieved an increase of 1.87 percent last Friday.
It was observed that the decline posted by the equities market yesterday was mainly influenced by continued selloffs by investors.
While the All Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 602.81 points to finish at 34,663.48 points, the market capitalisation decreased by N220.1 billion to settle at N12.654 trillion.
Business Post reports that the volume of shares transacted by investors on Monday decreased by 37.75 percent, while the value rose by 26.49 percent.
At the close of business, investors traded a total of 220.5 million shares worth N3.2 billion compared with the 354.2 million equities valued at N2.5 billion exchanged last Friday.
It was a busy day for the Financial Services sector as it led the activity chart with 201.6 million shares exchanged for N2.4 billion, while the Consumer Goods industry followed with 6.5 million shares sold for N443 million.
A further breakdown showed that United Bank for Africa (UBA) emerged the most traded equity on Monday with an exchange of 42.7 million shares worth N354.8 million.
It was trailed by Zenith Bank, which sold 36.7 million shares valued at N804.1 million, and Access Bank, which exchanged 32.7 million equities for N310.4 million.
Skye Bank exchanged 18.3 million shares valued at N9.157 million, while FBN Holdings traded 15.6 million shares worth N151.6 million.
A look at the price movement chart indicated that the losers’ log was led by Nigerian Breweries, which lost N3 to close at N100 per share.It was followed by Unilever Nigeria, which went down by N2.50k to settle at N52.50 per share, and GTBank, which decreased by N1.05k to finish at N36.95k per share.PZ Cussons fell by N1 to close at N13.05k per share, while Zenith Bank reduced by 70 kobo to finish at N21.85 per share.At the other side, Dangote Cement topped the gainers’ chart yesterday after adding N9.50k to its share value to end at N229.50k per share.Newrest ASL Nigeria rose by 40 kobo to finish at N4.85k per share, while Stanbic IBTC Bank increased by 25 kobo to settle at N50.30k per share.First City Monument Bank gained 10 kobo to close at N1.80k per share, while Cadbury Nigeria also went up by 10 kobo to close settle at N10.10k per share.