Selloffs in the shares of MTN Nigeria, alongside Tier-one banks as Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) on Monday dropped the equity market, as investors lost N437 billion.
Specifically, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 0.73 per cent or 761.42 points to settle at 103,659.81 points, as against 104,421.23 posted on Friday.
Similarly, the market capitalisation lost 0.73 per cent or 437 billon to close at N56,721 trillion, compared to N57,158 trillion recorded previously.
As a result, the Year-To-date (YTD) return fell to 38.63 per cent.
Analysis of the market activities showed that trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, as the value of transactions went down by 17.67 per cent.
A total of 841.55 billion million shares valued at N19.33 billion were exchanged in 13,674 deals, compared with 944 million shares valued at N23.48 billion exchanged in 11,512 deals recorded previously.
Meanwhile, on the traders’ chart, First Bank Nigeria Holdings(FBNH) led both in volume and value with 332.30 million shares traded in deals worth N8.95 billion.
Transcorp followed by 49.97 million shares worth N812.13 million and Oando traded 43.51 million shares valued at N637.13 million.
Also, United Bank of Africa(UBA) transacted 34.73 million shares worth N951.33 million and Nigerian Breweries traded 29.75 million shares valued at N1.13 billion per share.
On the losers’ table, Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc led by 9.7 per cent to close at N2.70, Livestock Feed Plc lost 9.66 per cent to close at N1.87, while Fidelity Bank shed 9.37 per cent to close at N11.60 per share.
Jaiz Bank trailed by 7.93 per cent to close at N2.67 and MTN lost 5.52 per cent to close at 274 per share.
On the gainers’ table, May and Baker Nigeria, Cornerstone Insurance, Cadbury, Daar Communications and Meyer Plc led in percentage terms of 10 each to close at N6.93, N2.09, N22, 77k and N4.73 per share respectively.
However, market breadth closed negative as 27 declining issues outnumbered 26 advancing ones.
