Activities opened on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday in the negative as the market capitalisation lost N150 billion and volume depreciated by 42.82 per cent.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that amid losses by blue chips, the market capitalisation, which opened at N14.753 trillion, shed N150 billion or 1.02 per cent to close at N14.603 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index dipped by 411.98 points or 1.01 per cent to close at 40,429.18 compared with 40,841.14 posted on Friday, April 6.
NAN reports that the market was weighed down by profit taking by some investors with major blue chips recording price losses.
Unilever recorded the highest loss to lead the losers’ table, shedding N4.80 to close at N55 per share.
Lafarge Africa trailed with a loss of N3.20 to close at N41 in spite of N1.50 final dividend declared for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2017.
Dangote Cement shed N2.90 to close at N252, while Guinness depreciated by N1 to close at N103.
Dangote Flour also lost 65k to close at N13.15 per share.
Analysts attributed the development to sell-off and profit taking on high cap stocks that suffered losses after their share prices were adjusted for dividend declared and some companies that declared unimpressive earnings.
On the other hand, GlaxosmithKline led the gainers’ table during the day, growing by N10 to close at N30 per share.
Champion Breweries followed with a gain of 20k to close at N2.48, while Cement Company of Northern Nigeria also gained 20k to close at N18 per share.
Fidson Healthcare added 12k to close at N5.80, while Axa Mansard grew by 12k to close at N2.52 per share.
Similarly, the volume and value of shares traded dropped by 42.82 per cent and 15.38 per cent, respectively.
Consequently, investors bought and sold 287.04 million shares valued at N4.95 billion transacted in 4,285 deals.
This was in contrast with a turnover of 501.96 million shares worth N5.85 billion exchanged in 6,108 deals on Friday.
FBN Holdings was the most active in volume terms, accounting for 29.58 million shares worth N359.09 million.
Skye Bank followed with 23.12 million shares valued at N15.04 million, while FCMB Group traded 22.95 million shares worth N53.94 million.
Zenith International Bank sold 22.49 million shares valued at N606.94 million, while Nigerian Breweries exchanged 20.64 million shares worth N2.58 billion.