By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.72 per cent loss was suffered by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday on the reappearance of bears, triggered by renewed profit-taking.
Traders quickly booked profit during the session after the bourse posted gains for three consecutive sessions last week, a rare occurrence lately, though investor sentiment remained bullish.
This was because the market breadth index and positive and the exchange ended the trading day with 29 price gainers and 20 price losers led by BUA Cement, which fell by 9.93 per cent to N114.30.
SAHCO depreciated by 5.43 per cent to N24.40, Sunu Assurances declined by 4.76 per cent to N1.20, Coronation Insurance slipped by 2.53 per cent to 77 Kobo, and CWG crashed by 2.38 per cent to N6.15.
But Julius Berger gained 10.00 per cent to settle at N121.00, NASCON also jumped by 10.00 per cent to sell for N34.65, TotalEnergies appreciated by 9.98 per cent to N470.40, Oando advanced by 9.98 per cent to N44.65, and Dangote Sugar grew by 9.95 per cent to N40.35.
It was observed that the weakening of the NGX yesterday was mainly due to selling pressure on the industrial goods and banking sectors, which closed in red by 3.96 per cent, and 0.31 per cent, respectively.
Business Post reports that the energy space appreciated by 3.30 per cent, the insurance counter improved by 2.05 per cent, and the consumer goods index gained 1.00 per cent.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 724.04 points to 97,881.75 points from 98,605.79 points, and the market capitalisation moderated by N411 billion to N55.575 trillion from N55.986 trillion.
A total of 498.3 million stocks valued at N11.8 billion exchanged hands in 10,645 deals on Monday compared with the 477.4 million stocks worth N8.2 billion traded in 9,529 deals last Friday, indicating an increase in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 4.38 per cent, 43.90 per cent, and 11.71 per cent apiece.
GTCO transacted 123.9 million shares worth N5.7 billion to stay on top of the activity chart as its public offer ended, followed by 39.3 million, which sold 39.3 million equities for N47.9 million. Access Holdings exchanged 38.3 million stocks valued at N744.4 million, Japaul transacted 33.4 million shares valued at N79.7 million, and UBA traded 29.1 million equities worth N668.2 million.