Nigeria equity market resumes trading in April with 0.95% loss

Transactions opened on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the first trading day in April on a bearish trend with the All-Share Index shedding 0.95 per cent.

It was reported that the index on Monday lost 242.31 points or 0.95 per cent to close at 25,273.03 compared with 25,516.34 posted on Friday due to profit taking.

Also, the market capitalisation, which opened at N8.826 trillion, dipped N82 billion to close at N8.744 trillion.

Total Nigeria led the losers’ chart, shedding N9.98 to close at N260 per share.

Dangote Cement trailed with a loss of N3.90 to close at N161.10 and Nigerian Breweries lost N1.85 to close at N125.15 per share.

Guaranty Trust Bank was down by 59k to close at N24.31, while Eterna Oil declined by 16k to close at N3.23 per share.

Conversely, Mobil Oil led the gainers’ table, growing by N15 to close at N315 per share.

7UP Bottling followed with all gain of N4.05 to close at N87.05 and CAP gained N1.41 to close at N29.61 per share.

UACN appreciated by N1.33 to close at N14.33 and NASCON garnered 72k to close at N7.82 per share.

The Financial Services sector remained the toast of investors with Fidelity Bank emerging the most traded equity, trading 26.69 million shares worth N21.32 million.

Diamond Bank followed with account of 9.78 million shares valued at N8.19 million and United Bank for Africa sold 9.33 million shares worth N47.97 million.

FBN Holdings traded 6.73 million shares valued at N20.76 million and Stanbic IBTC exchanged 4.08 million shares worth N73.42 million.

In all, the volume of shares traded closed lower as investors bought and sold 97.69 million shares valued at N682.76 million exchanged in 2,634 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 593.87 million shares worth N94, 26 billion transacted in 3,159 deals on Friday.