Equities trading opened the week at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, on a negative note on Monday, May 23 as profit taking dominated as a result of the impressive gains recorded in the previous week.
To this end, the All Share Index plunged 100.48 points or 0.37 per cent to settle at 27,015.97 points.
Market analysts said the market performance yesterday was broadly driven by profit taking by investors and this trend is expected to persist as investors await the outcome from deliberations at the ongoing monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
Market breadth closed negative with 14 gainers and 28 laggards recorded. Stanbic recorded the highest price gain of 10.19 per cent, to close at N16.54 per share. DN Meyer followed with a gain of 8.22 per cent to close at 79 kobo, while Fidson gained by 5 per cent to close at N2.10 per share.
Continental Reinsurance went up by 4.85 per cent to close at N1.08 and Dangote Sugar appreciated by 4.96 per cent to close at N6.60 per share.
On the other hand, NEM insurance led the losers’ chart by 8.75 per cent, to close at 73 kobo per share. PZ Industries shed by 4.97 per cent to close at N21.81, while Union Dicon declined by 4.94 per cent to close at N12.52 per share.
Zenith Bank depreciated by 4.89 per cent to close at N15.17, while Port Paint went down by 4.85 per cent to close at N1.96 per share
Activity level also waned as volume and value traded fell 43.4 per cent and 46.8 per cent to 316.5 million units and N1.9 billion respectively.”
