Equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) began the week with bearish sentiment as the All-Share Index (ASI) extended losses from the previous session, down by 0.53 percent to close at 97,709.38 basis point.
Basically, losses in Seplat Energies, United Bank for Africa and Access Holdings caused the drag in the market as the share prices of these companies dipped by 10.0 percent. 2.28 percent and 0.57 percent, respectively.
As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date return printed -0.5 percent and +30.7 percent, respectively.
Thus, equities investors made a cumulative loss of N296.28 billion as the market capitalization settled at N55.27 trillion by the end of trading activities on Monday.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 24 tickers lost relative to 18 gainers. On the performance board, Seplat Energies and PZ topped the losers’ list after their share prices dipped by 10.0 percent and 9.9 percent.
Tantalizer and Sterling Financial Holdings recorded the highest gains of the day having appreciated on share value by 8.7 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.
Performance across the sectors mirrored the overall market sentiment, as the Oil & Gas, Banking, Insurance and Consumer Goods indices posted losses having depreciated by 5.9 percent, 0.8 percent, 0.6 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively; while the Industrial Goods index closed flat.
However, activities at the local bourse was impressive as analysis of market activity showed that trade turnover settled 51.25 percent higher than the previous session, with 439.10 million shares valued at N11.38 billion in 8,607 transactions.
Notore Chemical Industries of the NGX industrial goods sector was an investor’s toast as the shares of the company led the volume and value table with 74.43 million units traded in deals worth N4.65 billion.
