Temitope Adebayo
Trading on the Nigerian bourse opened for the week on Monday on a negative trend with the market capitalisation dropping by N6 billion or 0.05 per cent to close at N10.973 trillion against N10.979 trillion on Friday.
Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 29,212.00 lost 15.13 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 29,196.87.
The performance was influenced by price depreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks, among which are, Mobil Nigeria, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), Guaranty Trust Bank, UACN Property and Ikeja Hotel.
Analysts at United Capital Limited noted that “Looking ahead, we expect activities in the local bourse to remain tepid in absence of positive triggers that could spur massive buying interest.
“However, we do not rule out the possibility of intermittent gains in the market on the backdrop of bargain hunting of stocks with relatively cheap prices.”
NEM Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 9.95 per cent, to close at N2.43 per share.
Courteville Business Solutions followed with gain of 9.09 per cent, to close at 24k, while Chams appreciated by 8.89 per cent to close at 49 per share.
Regency Alliance Insurance and Sovereign Trust Insurance went up by 8.70 per cent each to close at 25k per share, respectively.
Conversely, UACN Property Development led the losers’ chart by 8.93 per cent, to close at N1.53, per share.
Ikeja Hotel followed with a decline of 8.57 per cent to close at N1.60, while Goldlink Insurance declined by 8.33 per cent to close at 33k per share.
Japaul Oil & Maritime Services declined by 7.69 per cent to close at 36, while CCNN down by 3.47 per cent, to close at N15.30 per share.
Total volume traded went down by 23.93 per cent with an exchange of 271.08 million shares valued at N1.49 billion traded in 3,814 deals.
This was against a turnover of 356.33 million shares worth N2.31 billion transacted in 4,270 deals on Friday.
Japaul Oil was the toast of investors with 58.61 million shares worth N23.4 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 36.99 million shares valued at N244.78 million, while Courtville sold 30.68 million shares worth N7.36 million.
Access Bank traded 23.62 million shares valued at N163.28 million, while Transcorp transacted 17.16 million shares worth N21.38 million.
