Transactions at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited started the new trading week in the negative territory as the value of 26 stocks depreciated on account of cautious trading by investors.
The market had gained 3.38 per cent with investors gaining about N809.6 billion wiith analysts saying investors would be focused on the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting to gain further clarity on the movement of yields in the Fixed Income (FI) market.
However, losses in the shares of highly capitalised stocks drove the market into red. As a result, the All Share Index (ASI) fell by 0.06 per cent to close at 45,928.27 points from 45,957.35 points recorded last week while market capitalisation fell by N12 billion from N24.761 trillion to close Monday’s session at N24.749 trillion.
In the latest market report obtained from the NGX’s website, 26 stocks depreciated in value while 15 others appreciated. Regal Insurance led the losers’ chart with 9.52 per cent to close at 0.38 kobo per share, FTN Cocoa dropped 7.69 per cent to close at 0.36 kobo, NEM was next with 5.41 per cent to close at N3.50, Sovereign Insurance lost 4.17 per cent to close at 0.23 kobo while Cutix Plc fell by 4 per cent to close at N2.40.
On the other hand, LivingTrust topped the gainers’ chart with 9.62 per cent to close at N1.14 per share. NNFM followed with 9.49 per cent to close at N8.65, Academy gained 9.09 per cent to close at 0.72 kobo, Courtville increased by 8.70 per cent to close at 0.50 kobo while ABC Transport garnered 5.88 per cent to close at 0.36 kobo.
Further analysis of the market’s performance revealed that the volume of stocks traded stood at 278.60 million units while the value of stocks stood at N2.88 billion, exchanged in 4,447 deals.
Reacting, Cordros Research, said, “Consequently, we expect a “choppy theme” as cautious trading will likely dominate the market. Notwithstanding, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings”.