The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) opened the week on a bearish note as sell-offs in Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and 25 other equities dragged the market lower by N197 billion.
The market capitalisation, which began the session at N91.286 trillion, slipped by 0.22 per cent to N91.089 trillion. Similarly, the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 310.20 basis points, or 0.22 per cent, to close at 143,210.33 points, down from 143,520.53 points recorded at the end of last month. The year-to-date return stood at 39.14 per cent.
Sector performance was mixed. The NGX Consumer Goods Index declined by 1 per cent, while the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices slipped by 0.1 per cent each. In contrast, the Banking and Insurance indices posted modest gains of 0.1 per cent apiece.
International Breweries led the losers’ chart, falling by 10 per cent to N10.35 per share. RT Briscoe followed with a 9.88 per cent drop to N3.10, while Cornerstone Insurance shed 7.83 per cent to close at N5.53. Daar Communications fell by 6.52 per cent to 86k, and Regency Alliance Insurance declined by 4.81 per cent to 99k.
On the gainers’ side, NCR Nigeria topped the chart with a 9.97 per cent rise to N60.10 per share. Sunu Assurances appreciated by 9.18 per cent to N4.28, while Champion Breweries gained 8.11 per cent to close at N14. Mecure advanced by 7.58 per cent to N29.80, and Guinea Insurance rose 7.27 per cent to N1.18 per share.
Despite an uptick in the number of deals, overall market activity weakened as volume and value of trades declined. Investors exchanged 1.47 billion shares worth N18.7 billion across 28,956 transactions, compared with 1.826 billion shares valued at N20.03 billion traded in 20,645 deals in the previous session.
Wema Bank emerged as the most actively traded stock by volume and value, posting 113.25 million shares worth N2.07 billion.
