Monday’s trading on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited started on a negative note.
The All-Share Index moderated by 0.44 per cent to close at 39,306.47 basis points, while the market capitalisation dropped to N20.49tn.
The bearish sentiment caused investors to lose N91.43bn, even as 14 stocks declined relative to 22 stocks that extended gains.
At the close of the day’s trading, the year-to-date loss of the ASI rose to -2.39 per cent.
The share prices of large capitalised stocks such as MTN Nigeria Communications, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, BUA Cement, Lafarge Africa and Guaranty Trust Bank moderated by 1.05 per cent, 2.17 per cent, 1.16 per cent, 2.42 per cent and 1.67 per cent respectively.
Sectoral performance was weak as four out of five indices tracked closed in the red zone.
The banking, insurance, consumer goods and industrial indices fell by 0.59 per cent, 0.29 per cent, 0.09 per cent and 0.66 per cent respectively, but the oil and gas index rose by 0.21 per cent.
Trading activity was weak as total deals, volume and value of stocks traded declined.
The total volume of stocks fell marginally by 2.51 per cent to 213.98 million units, valued at N1.88bn in 2,888 deals.
