Nigerian stock market index started the week in a negative territory, as the All-Share Index declined by 0.08 per cent to close at 39,801.78 points following profit-taking activity, especially on large capitalised stocks.
The market capitalisation also fell by 0.08 per cent to close at N20.83tn, as investors lost N17.05bn at the close of the day’s trading.
While the year-to-date loss of the ASI rose to -1.16 per cent, the market recorded gains in 28 stocks against 17 stocks that lost at the close of trading session.
The profit-taking on MTN Nigeria Communications, Lafarge Africa, Zenith Bank and United Bank for Africa shares saw their prices fall by 0.51 per cent, 5.20 per cent, 1.12 per cent and 1.37 per cent respectively.
Except for the consumer goods index which rose by 0.71 per cent, four other indices tracked closed in the red zone.
The banking, insurance, industrial and oil and gas indices fell by 0.32 per cent, 0.86 per cent, 0.57 per cent and 0.29 per cent respectively.
Trading activity was up as total deals, volume and value of stocks traded rose.
At the close of Tuesday’s trading, the total volume of stocks rose by 34.27 per cent to 426.50 million units, valued at N4.65bn in 5,616 deals.
