WorldStage Newsonline– Trading on the Nigerian Exchange reversed its previous session’s gain on Monday, recording a loss of N404 billion or 0.72 per cent for equity market investors.
The market’s decline was primarily driven by losses in major stocks, including BUA Cement and Tier-one banks such as Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO).
Specifically, the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) market capitalisation closed at N55.574 trillion, down from its opening value of N55.978 trillion.
The All-Share Index also decreased by 0.72 per cent, shedding 711.2 points to close at 97,880.94, compared to 98,592.12 recorded on Friday.
As a result, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return dropped to 30.90 per cent.
In spite of the overall decline, market breadth remained positive with 29 gainers and 20 losers on the Exchange.
On the gainers chart, Julius Berger led by 10 per cent to close at N121 per share, while BUA Cement led the losers chart by 9.93 per cent to close at N114.30 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 44.11 per cent.
A total of 498.27 million shares valued at N11.77 billion were exchanged in 10,645 deals, compared to 477.44 million shares valued at N8.17 billion traded in 9,529 deals posted in the previous session.
Meanwhile, GTCO led the activity chart in volume and value with 123.92 million shares worth N5.66 billion.
