By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.03 per cent growth was posted by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on the first trading session of the new week, Monday, after the banking space closed higher by 0.45 per cent.
It was the only of the five major sectors of the market that finished in the green territory during the trading day, as the others came under selling pressure ahead of the rate announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday.
The apex bank commenced its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting yesterday and will reveal its decision on the benchmark interest rate today.
Business Post reports that the consumer goods index lost 0.11 per cent, the insurance counter declined by 0.10 per cent, the energy sector fell by 0.01 per cent, and the industrial goods space closed flat.
As for the All-Share Index (ASI), it increased at the close of business by 29.20 points to 100,568.60 points from 100,539.40 points and the market capitalisation enlarged by N16 billion to N56.945 trillion from N56.929 trillion.
With 23 price gainers and 15 price losers, the market breadth ended bullish with strong investor sentiment.
Tantalizers appreciated by 8.89 per cent to 49 Kobo, Livestock Feeds grew by 8.18 per cent to N2.38, Neimeth jumped by 8.05 per cent to N1.88, McNichols gained 7.92 per cent to close at N1.09, and Julius Berger improved by 5.71 per cent to N92.50.
Conversely, Caverton lost 9.68 per cent to sell at N1.40, Royal Exchange shed 6.94 per cent to finish at 67 Kobo, Veritas Kapital depreciated by 4.72 per cent to N1.01, International Breweries slumped by 4.42 per cent to N3.68, and Honeywell Flour decreased by 4.23 per cent to N3.17.
The NGX recorded a decline in trading volume, value, and number of deals during the session by 44.41 per cent, 59.78 per cent, and 12.29 per cent, respectively.
A total of 335.7 million stocks valued at N3.7 billion exchanged hands in 8,760 deals on Monday, in contrast to the 603.9 million stocks worth N9.2 billion transacted in 9,988 deals last Friday.
Ellah Lakes was the busiest equity with 110.7 million units sold for N332.0 million, Universal Insurance transacted 21.9 million units worth N7.5 million, United Capital traded 20.1 million units valued at N778.6 million, Veritas Kapital exchanged 19.5 million units for N20.2 million, and FCMB traded 14.7 million units worth N112.2 million.