The Nigerian stock market opened the week and second quarter of the year with a slight decline, as performance indices closed 0.04% weaker on Monday, resulting in a N22 billion loss for investors.
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) market capitalisation, which began at N56.602 trillion, dropped by N22 billion or 0.04% to close at N56.580 trillion. The All-Share Index also fell by 37 points, or 0.04%, to settle at 100,020.83, down from Friday’s 100,057.49. Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return decreased to 38.28%.
The market’s downturn was primarily due to selloffs in major equities such as Zenith Bank, United Bank For Africa (UBA), Fidelity Bank, Transnational Corporation, Nigerian Breweries, and International Breweries.
Market breadth ended on a negative note with 28 losers and 20 gainers. ETranzact led the losers’ table with a 10% decline to close at N4.50 per share, followed by Fidson Healthcare, which fell by 9.70% to close at N13.50 per share. Cornerstone Insurance dropped 9.52% to close at N1.90, LASACO Assurance decreased by 9.41% to close at N2.31, and UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust fell by 8.26% to close at N5.00 per share.
On the gainers’ side, Linkage Assurance topped the list with a 10% increase to close at N1.10 per share. Africa Prudential followed with a 9.76% rise to close at N9.00 per share. Unity Bank gained 9.74% to close at N1.69, Wapic Insurance rose by 8.96% to close at 73k, and Sovereign Trust advanced by 8.89% to close at 49k per share.
Market analysis indicated a decrease in trade turnover compared to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 62.44%. A total of 274.68 million shares valued at N3.71 billion were traded in 10,112 deals, compared to 509.71 million shares valued at N9.88 billion exchanged in 7,945 deals in the previous session.
United Capital led the activity chart in both volume and value with 26.64 million shares worth N737.25 billion, followed by Linkage Assurance with 23.91 million shares valued at N26.30 million. AIICO Insurance traded 14.21 million shares worth N14.32 million, Computer Warehouse Group transacted 11.45 million shares worth N89.40 million, and Universal Insurance traded 11.12 million shares worth N4.04 million.
