The Nigerian equities market commenced trading for the week on Monday on a negative sentiment with the indices dropping by 0.17 per cent.
Specifically, the All-Share Index lost 48.41 points, indicating a decrease of 0.17 per cent to close at 27,650.28 points.
Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N23 billion or 0.17 per cent to close at N13.460 trillion against N13.483 trillion achieved on Friday.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Presco, UAC of Nigeria (UACN), Nigerian Breweries, Vitafoam Nigeria and Dangote Cement.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “We maintain our bearish stance for the market, although the current low prices of stocks pose opportunities for bargain hunting.”
Also, analysts in United Capital Plc in their report for this week expected the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to affect investors sentiment towards the equity market, in conjunction with the happenings in the global space.
Market breadth closed negative, with 18 gainers against 24 losers.
An analysis of the price movement table shows that Presco led the losers’ chart with a loss of 9.93 per cent to close at N40.35 per share.
UACN Property Development Company followed with a decline of 9.86 per cent to close at N1.28, while Vitafoam dipped 9.79 to close at N3.87 per share.
NPF Microfinance Bank lost 9.60 per cent to close at N1.13, while UACN shed 9.49 per cent to close at N7.15 per share.
Conversely, NCR Nigeria and Trans-Nationwide Express recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each, to close at N4.95 and 77 per share, respectively.
Eterna followed with a gain 9.09 per cent to close at N3 per share.
Cutix improved by 8.97 per cent to close at N1.70, while Cornerstone Insurance appreciated by 7.69 per cent to close at 42k per share.
Also, the volume of shares transacted dropped by 38.30 per cent with an exchange of 109.56 million shares valued at N888.17 million in 3,382 deals.
This was in contrast with a turnover of 177.57 million shares worth N5.92 billion achieved in 3,484 deals on Friday.
FBN Holdings was the toast of investors, accounting for 20.29 million shares valued at N114.29 million.
Transcorp came second with 9.83 million shares worth N10.33 million, while Access Bank accounted for 9.69 million shares valued at N70.26 million.
UACN sold 5.81 million shares worth N43.12 million, while Wapic Insurance transacted 4.64 million shares valued at N1.6 million.
