Stock Market Commerces Week on Negative Note as Market Cap Decline by N11bn

Kayode Tokede

The Nigerian stock market, yesterday kicked off the new week on a negative note, with the major market bench mark dropping by 0.01 per cent on investors profit-taking in Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO), and others.

As GTCO dropped by 1.6 per cent, the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index (NGX ASI) lost 17.00 basis points, or  0.01 per cent to close at 166,112.50 basis points, with Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at +6.8per cent..

Also, the  market capitalisation of all listed stocks  shed N11 billion to close at N106.343 trillion.

Sectoral performance was mixed as the NGX Consumer Goods Index  dipped by 0.3per cent, NGX Industrial Goods Index dropped by 0.3per cent, and NGX Oil & Gas Index  declined by 0.1per cent, while the NGX Banking Index advanced by 0.7 per cent and NGX Insurance index gained 0.3per cent.

However, market sentiment remained bullish, as 44 stocks gained ground compared to 24 that declined.

Champion Breweries, Learn Africa and NCR Nigeria emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent each to close at N19.25, N7.15 and N141.40 respectively, per share. Tripple Gee & Company followed with a gain of 9.94 per cent to close at N5.86, while Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals rose by 9.90 per cent to close at N11.10, per share.

On the other side, Industrial & Medical Gases led others on the losers’ chart with 9.95 per cent to close at N34.85, per share. Haldane McCall followed with a decline of 9.88 per cent to close at N3.83, while LivingTrust Mortgage Bank shed 9.57 per cent to close at N4.44, per share.

Ikeja Hotel lost 7.28 per cent to close at N32.50, while Union Dicon Salt depreciated by 5.26 per cent to close at N9.00, per share.

Also, the total volume traded rose by 16.62 per cent to 629.600 million units, valued at N14.754 billion, and exchanged in 57,858 deals. Transactions in the shares of Secure Electronic Technology led the activity with 83.307 million shares worth N98.202 million. Access Holdings followed with account of 52.879 million shares valued at N1.214 billion, while Jaiz Bank traded 39.730 million shares valued at N339.106 million.

Tantalizer traded 34.242 million shares worth N103.110 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 23.693 million shares worth N473.450 million.

Looking ahead, Imperial Asset Managers Limited said, “we expect the market to trade on a mixed‑to‑bullish note, with selective accumulation in financially sound and income‑oriented stocks likely to support continued gains.”