Kayode Tokede
The stock market yesterday opened the week on a bearish note as losses in FBN Holdings Plc and 36 others plummet the overall capitalisation by N231 billion.
As FBN Holdings dropped by 4.07 per cent to close at N29.45per share, the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index (NGX ASI) declined by 370.43 basis points or 0.34 per cent to close at 108,126.97 basis points as the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +3.5per cent and +5.1per cent respectively.
Also, market capitalisation lost N231 billion to close at N67.383 trillion.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative, as the NGX Banking Index was down by 1.4per cent, NGX Insurance Index dipped by 0.9per cent, NGX Oil & Gas depreciated by 0.3per cent, NGX Consumer Goods Index dropped by 0.2per cent and NGX Industrial Goods fell by 0.1per cent.
The market breadth, which measures investor sentiment close in negative, as 17 stocks appreciated, while 37 stocks depreciated. Ikeja Hotel emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent to close at N12.10, per share. PZ Cussons Nigeria followed with a gain of 9.26 per cent to close at N29.50, while Consolidated Hallmark Holdings up by 8.85 per cent to close at N4.18, per share.
DAAR Communications rose by 8.82 per cent to close at 74 kobo, while Livestock Feeds appreciated by 5.95 per cent to close at N6.41, per share.
On the other side, NNFM led others on the losers’ chart with 9.99 per cent to close at N72.55, per share. Eunisell Interlinked followed with a decline of 9.96 per cent to close at N10.85, while Sovereign Trust Insurance shed 9.09 per cent to close at N1.20, per share.
Secure Electronic Technology went down by 7.46 per cent to close at 62 kobo, while UPDC depreciated by 6.13 per cent to close at N2.91, per share.
However, the total volume of trade improved by 13.3 per cent to 357.759 million units, valued at N9.211 billion, and exchanged in 15,914 deals. Transactions in the shares of Jaiz Bank led the activity with 48.188 million shares worth N161.638 million. Zenith Bank followed with an account of 28.192 million shares valued at N1.373 billion, while Universal Insurance traded 18.683 million shares valued at N12.670 million.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) traded 17.877 million shares worth N1.126 billion, while Access Holdings traded 15.515 million shares worth N403.585 million.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited stated that, “barring the emergence of market stimulating shocks, we expect the negative sentiment to persist due to depressed investor sentiment.”
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