Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, on Monday, February 19, kicked off the new week on a downward trajectory.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) dropped 1.53 percent or 650.65 points to finish at 41,988.18 points, bringing down the year-to-date return to 9.79 percent.Meanwhile market capitalisation slumped by N233.5 billion to settle at N15.068 trillion.
Market breadth closed negative with 16 price gainers paired against 32 price losers. Nestle dropped N58.20k to close at N1341.80k per share, leading the laggards’ chart.
It was trailed by Dangote Cement, which lost by N8.60k to finish at N251.30k per share, and Nigerian Breweries, which fell by N2.10k to settle at N128.90k per share.
PZ Cussons dropped N2 to close at N23 per share, while Nigerian Enamelware dropped N1.15k of its share value to end at N22.10k per share.
Conversely, International Breweries emerged the biggest gainer after soaring by N1.25k to close at N59 per share. It was followed by GTBank, which surged by N1 to finish at N47.50k per share, and CCNN, which progressed by 35k to end at N18.50k per share.
Fidson added 22k to settle at N4.69k per share, while Axa Mansard increased by 13k to close at N2.78k per share.
Skye Bank was the most traded stock, exchanging 58 million shares worth N63.2 million. It was followed by Diamond Bank, which sold 40.3 million units valued at N106.7 million, and FCMB, which traded 35.3 million valued at N89.4 million.
Jaiz Bank traded 19 million shares worth N20.4 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 15.7 million shares.
At the end of trading, the volume and value of equities transacted by investors slumped by 64.80 percent and 71.65 percent respectively
.A total of 287.2 million shares worth N2.3 billion were sold on Monday in 4,646 deals, compared with 815.9 million shares traded last Friday in 4,808 deals valued at N8.1 billion.
