Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened on Monday on a negative trend with the market capitalisation dropping by N22 billion.
The market capitalisation which opened at N8.50 trillion lost N22 billion or 0.26 per cent to close at N8.48 trillion.
Similarly, All-Share Index lost 66.75 points or 0.27 per cent to close at 24,652.52 points against 24,719.27 achieved on Friday.
A breakdown of the price movement table showed that Nigerian Breweries topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N1.50 to close at N104.50 per share.
Guinness came second with a loss of 41k to close at N99.49 and Oando lost 38k to close at N4.18 per share.
CCNN shed 35k to close at N6.68 per share, while Zenith declined by 15k to close at N11.13 per share.
On the other hand, Stanbic IBTC led the gainers’ table growing by 65k to close at N14.30 per share.
Ecobank Transnational followed with a gain of 15k to close at N14 per share, while Diamond Bank appreciated by 11k to close at N1.41 per share.
Trans Express grew by 9k to close at N1.08 per share, while Caverton Offshore increased by 8k to close at N1.73 per share.
However, Equity Assurance emerged the most traded stock, transacting 40 million shares worth N20 million.
It was followed by Zenith Bank with a total of 12.01 million shares valued at N135.58 million, while FBN Holdings sold 11.86 million shares worth N39.67 million.
GT Bank traded 10.86 million shares valued at N166.65 million and Diamond Bank exchanged 6.85 million shares worth N9.51 million.
In all, investors bought and sold 124.29 million shares valued at N552.73 million exchanged in 1,588 deals.
This was against 437.85 million shares worth N2.78 billion achieved in 2,647 deals on Friday. (NAN)
Reacting to downward market situation, Mr Ambrose Omordion, Chief Operating Officer, InvestData, attributed it to “bearish sentiments, lack of liquidity and the continued decline in the nation’s economic indices’’.
Omordion said that lingering fuel scarcity and lack of electricity had pushed commodity prices high thereby making cost of living high in the country.
He said that the recent downgrading of the economic growth to 2.3 per cent by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due to the current fiscal and monetary policies was affecting investors’ confidence.
