The market indicators of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday opened for the week on a negative note, dropping by 0.91 per cent.
The market capitalisation lost N97 billion or 0.91 per cent to close at N10.559 trillion, against N10.656 trillion posted on Friday.
Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 31,091.69 lost 284.15 points or 0.91 per cent, to close at 30,807.54 due to price taking.
Market analysts had predicted that the market would remain on a negative slide with the retention of the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 13 per cent.
Prof. Sheriffadeen Tella of the Department of Economics, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, said that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) retention of the interest rate at 13 per cent was not good for the economy.
Tella predicted that there would be movement of funds from the capital market to the money market, due to high interest rate.
A breakdown of the price movement chart showed that 7 UP recorded the highest loss, losing N8.90 to close at N185.10 per share.
It was followed by Nigerian Breweries with a loss of N4.19 to close at N122.80, while Mobil dipped N3.18 to close at N150 per share.
Forte Oil lost N2 to close at N184, while Total depreciated by N1 to close at N162 per share.
On the other hand, Red Star Express led the gainers’ table, growing by 45k to close at N4.97 per share.
UACN gained 28k to close at N41.40, while Unilever garnered 20k to close at N37.60 per share.
UBA increased by 8k to close at N41.31, while Trans Express grew by 4k to close at 92k per share.
Access Bank emerged the most traded equity in volume terms, exchanging 37.99 million shares valued N192.29 million in 158 deals.
Zenith Bank came second with 26.80 million shares worth N458.71 million traded in 366 deals, while GT Bank sold 22.71 million shares, valued N589.75 million exchanged in 332 deals.
Fidelity Bank accounted for 17.19 million shares worth N26.37 million, achieved in 77 deals; and FBN Holdings exchanged 10.47 million shares valued N79.99 million in 326 deals.
In all, investors bought and sold 184.17 million shares worth N2.29 billion in 3,557 deals.
This was against a total of 132.78 million shares, valued N1.79 billion transacted in 3,388 on Friday.
