The equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited started this week on a negative note as investors lost N126.86bn at the end of trading on Monday.
The NGX All-Share Index, which tracks all stocks listed on the exchange, saw a 0.63 per cent decrease from 38,810.75 basis points last Friday to 38,567.36 bps on Monday.
The volume of shares traded on the floor of the NGX increased by 16.19 per cent to 194.95 million shares valued at N1.10bn in 3,830 deals from 167.78 million shares worth N1.66bn exchanged in 3,267 deals on Friday.
Eighteen companies recorded price losses on Monday with University Press Plc falling the most as it lost 9.79 per cent to close at N1.29 per share.
Linkage Assurance Plc followed with a 7.81 per cent loss as it closed at N0.59 per share. Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc (-4.26 per cent), Courtville Business Solutions Plc (-4.00 per cent) were among the top losers at the end of trading.
The gainers’ chart was led by Conoil Plc with a 9.83 per cent increase, closing at N22.35 per share. Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc was next as it rose by 9.76 per cent to N6.75 per share.
Other top gainers were Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc, Academy Press Plc and Sunu Assurances Nigeria Plc with 9.18 per cent, 7.89 per cent and 4.44 per cent gains respectively.
“Bears grip the Lagos bourse today as the equities market resumed trading activities on a negative note,” said analysts from Atlas Portfolios Limited. “Losses were printed on the exchange by price depreciation in tickers such as Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, Oando and Flour Mills, among others.”
Cordros Capital analysts, in their report on Monday, said, “Trading at the local bourse opened the week negatively, primarily driven by sell-offs of Dangote Cement (-3.3 per cent) and Flour Mills (-2.3 per cent) stocks.
“Accordingly, the NGX ASI Index declined by 0.6 per cent to 38,567.26 points. Consequently, Month-to-Date gain printed +0.1 per cent, while year-to-date loss increased to -4.2 per cent.”
Wema Bank Plc and Ellah Lakes Plc were the most traded shares by volume at 25.77 million and 25.03 million shares respectively.
Ellah Lakes and Zenith Bank Plc were the most traded by value as N106.36m and N104.38m worth of their shares were exchanged on the floor of the NGX on Monday.
The Punch
