Stock Investors Lose N55bn As Market Falls Further

Investors in the Nigerian stock market lost N55bn at the end of trading on Monday amid profit-taking.

The market breadth closed negative as 14 firms recorded gains while 17 saw their share prices decline.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index dipped by 105.76 basis points or 0.43 per cent to close at 24,200.60bps as against 24,306.36bps on Friday.

The market capitalisation of equities depreciated by N55bn from N12.68tn on Friday to N12.62tn as market sentiment remained in the negative territory.

A total of 231.23 million shares were traded in 3,950 deals on Monday.

The banking subsector was the most active (measured by turnover volume), with 120.76 million shares traded by investors in 1,009 deals.

The volume in the subsector was largely driven by trading activities on the shares of Sterling Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc.

Other financial institutions subsector was boosted by trading activities on the shares of FCMB Plc and United Capital Plc, with a turnover of 40.71 million shares in 266 deals.

NPF Microfinance Bank Plc topped the gainers’ table with a gain of 10 per cent to close at N1.32 per share.

Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc appreciated by 9.35 per cent to close at N1.52 per share, while Linkage Assurance Plc rose by 8.51 per cent to close at 51 kobo per share.

On the other hand, 11Plc, formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, led the losers’ table with a drop of 9.97 per cent to close at N173.40 per share.

Chams Plc shed 8.33 per cent to close at 22 kobo per share, while Eterna Oil Plc lost 6.70 per cent to close at N2.09 per share.