Bears rule as local equities sheds N8bn

Agency Report

Trading on the floor of Nigerian Exchange (NGX)on Monday opened week in negative direction, declining by N8 billion as bears dominated the market activities.

Market capitalisation of listed equities depreciated by 0.01 per cent to N66.343 trillion from N66.351 trillion reported on Friday.

The NGX All Share Index also declined by 155.96 basis points to 105799.17 points from 105955.13 points recorded the previous day.

The NGX trading result for the day showed that 35 companies closed in red while 18 firms reported positive growth.

As a result, year to date return went down by 2.79 per cent.

An analysis of the investment indicated that Academy press led gainers table with 9.92 per cent to close at N2.88 per unit, Neimeth international Pharmaceutical followed with 8.43 per cent to close at N2.10 per unit, Tantalizer added 6.83 per cent to close at N3.13 per share, Dangote Sugar gained 4.71 per cent to close at N36.70 per share, Stanbic IBTC gained 4.24 per cent to close at N61.50 per unit.

On the contrary, Entranzact topped losers’ chart, declining by 10 per cent to close at N5.85 per share, SUNU Assurance followed with a drop of 9.92 per cent to close at N4.63 per share, Prestige insurance down by 8.26 per cent to close at N1.00, Sovereign Trust Insurance fell by 7.77 per cent to close at N0.95 per unit, Redstarex declined by 7.76 per cent to close at N5.35 per unit.

Volume of trades decreased by 273.063 million, representing 36.38 per cent as investors traded 477.572 million shares valued at N7.049 billion in 13520 deals against 750.575 million shares valued at N11.056 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 10584 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Jaiz Bank was the most active stock during the with 197.416 million shares valued at N606.149 million, Zenith Bank followed with 25.976 million shares cost N1.235 billion, Sovereign Trust Insurance traded 19.259 million shares cost N18.525 million, Prestige insurance exchanged 18.541 million shares cost N18.991 million while Fidelity Bank traded 15.895 million shares cost N270.477 million.