BY Mary Ugbodaga
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded a bearish opening at the start of the week due to sell-pressure on shares belonging to MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement and Flour Mills of Nigeria.
The all-share index (ASI) was down to 0.27 percent, closing at 25,132.67 points.
Furthermore, market capitalisation fell to N13.1 trillion as investors lost N35 billion while year-to-date (YTD) worsened to -6.4 percent.
The total volume and value of trade declined by 65.9 percent and 57.9 percent respectively to 258.1 million units and N1.7 billion.
The top traded stocks by volume were Guaranty Trust Bank (19.0 million units), Zenith Bank (18.6 million units) and Sterling Bank (14.3 million units).
Meanwhile, Guaranty Trust Bank (N472.2 million), Dangote Cement (N437.3 million) and Zenith Bank (N311.5 million) were the top traded stocks by value.
Performance across sectors was bearish as three of the top five NSE indices gained.
The industrial and banking indices declined by 0.38 percent and 0.24 percent respectively.
The insurance index recorded the best performance, advancing 2.89 percent due to buying interest in AXA Mansard (9.4 percent) and Cornerstone Insurance (8.2 percent).
The oil & gas and consumer goods indices also gained, advancing 0.49 percent and 0.23 percent respectively, buoyed by buying interest in Ardova Plc (9.4 percent), Japaul Oil (5.0 percent), Unilever Nigeria (10.0 percent) and Dangote Sugar (3.4 percent).
Market breadth, however, closed positive as 17 stocks gained against the 15 that declined.
The top gainers were Unilever Nigeria, Nigerian Northern Flour Mills and Julius Berger while Livestock Feeds, Vitafoam and International Breweries were the top losers.
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