Stock Market Extends Decline, Records N8bn Loss

Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian equity market extend losses on Monday as bears tightened their grip on the market.

The market breadth also closed on a negative note with five gainers against 46 losers.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index dipped 15.04 basis points or 0.04 per cent to close at 34,121.78 index points as against 34,136.82 recorded the previous trading session.

The market capitalisation of equities depreciated by N8bn from N17.84tn last Friday to N17.83tn as market sentiment remained on a negative territory.

Meanwhile, a turnover of 568.04 million shares exchanged in 8,928 deals was recorded in the day’s trading.

The premium subsector was the most active (measured by turnover volume), with 283.44 million shares exchanged by investors in 3,731 deals.

Volume in the sub-sector was largely driven by activities in the shares of Zenith Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc.

Also, the banking subsector was boosted by the activities in the shares of GTBank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc followed with a turnover of 123.02m shares in 1,559 deals.

Further analysis of the day’s trading showed that in percentage terms Airtel Africa Plc topped the day’s gainers’ table with five per cent to close at N525.00 per share while BUA Cement Plc followed with 4.77 per cent to close at N56.00 per share.

Dangote Cement Plc added 3.42 per cent to close at N199.80 per share.

On the flip side, Custodian and Allied Investment Plc, Ardova Plc, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, Wapco Plc, Livestocks Nigeria Plc and Transcorp Plc led the losers’ with a drop of 10 per cent each to close at N5.85, N13.50, N1.08, N22.05, N1.26 and 90 kobo per share respectively.

Oando Plc shed 9.97 per cent to close at N2.89 per share, while Neimeth Pharmaceuticals Plc lost 9.96 per cent to close at N2.17 per share.