Profit booking dips market by 0.2%: Nigeria

PHOTO

At the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), on Monday, the bears gained dominance on equities trading, to end the four days of bullish streak as profit booking activities from mid-large cap stocks declined the All Share Index (ASI) by 0.15 percent to 71,008.70 basis points.

Basically, selloffs in Tier-1 banking names Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and United Bank for Africa, having dipped their share prices by 0.75 percent, 7.08 percent and 0.48 percent, drove the overall weak performance.

Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +2.6 percent and +38.6 percent, respectively.

Related PostsADC guber candidate urges Lagos govt to explain procurement processLottery control: Supreme Court fixes date to hear suit against FG, 34 othersLagos Council lauds Gbajabiamila’s intervention on Ikate road rehabilitation

Thus, at the end of trading activities for the day under review, a total of N57.31 billion was wiped out from investors’ pockets as market capitalization settled at N39.05 trillion.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive as 35 tickers gained relative to 15 losers. On the performance board, Mecure Industries Plc and Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc topped the gainers’ list having appreciated in share value by 10.0 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively, while R T Briscoe Plc and Prestige Insurance recorded the highest losses of the day after the share prices dipped by 9.8 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively.

Across the sectors, performance was downbeat as the NGX Banking and Consumer Goods posted losses of 0.36 percent and 0.09 percent in that order, the Oil/Gas and Industrial Goods sectors remained flat. However, the Insurance sector was the sole gainer, advancing by 0.50 percent.

Activities at the local bourse on Monday were tepid as trading movements further declined with the total volume and value plunging by 18.83 percent and 27.77 percent to 358.45 million units, valued at N4.36 billion, respectively.

However, the total deals for the day surged by 11.35 percent to 6,551 trades.

At the conclusion of the trading session, Access Holdings emerged as the most actively traded security, with a total traded volume of 27.58 million units valued at N474.63 million, involving 284 trades, while Zenith Bank was the most traded in terms of value, amounting to N502.95 million.