Nigeria’s exchange started its trading week on Monday in a bearish mood after losing N30 billion due to selling pressure on BUA Foods and 21 other stocks.
The market capitalisation, which opened at N23.951 trillion, closed at N23.921 trillion after losing N30 billion.
The All-Share Index dropped 55.01 points or 0.12 percent to close at 44,399.66 from 44,454.67 on Friday.
As a result, the year-to-date gain moderated to 3.9%.
Several large and medium cap stocks depreciated in price, including BUA Foods, Nigerian Exchange Group (NGXGroup), International Breweries, Lafarge Africa and Fidson Healthcare.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “We expect a rebound in the subsequent trading session as investors position ahead of 2021 full year earnings results.”
There were 22 losers against 16 gainers in the market breadth.
At 21k per share, Veritas Kapital Assurance led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 8.70 percent.
Mutual Benefits Assurance followed with 7.41 per cent to close at 25k, while Cornerstone Insurance had a loss of 7.27 per cent to close at 51k per share.
The share price of BUA Foods fell 6.36 per cent to close at N61.80, while Courteville Business Solutions tumbled 5.41 per cent to close at 35k per share.
On the other hand, The Initiates closed at 44k per share, gaining 10 per cent as a percentage.
SUNU Assurance closed at 34k with a 9.68 percent gain, followed by Eterna with a 6.95 percent rise to close at N6.
Wapic Insurance rose by 6.25 per cent to close at 51k, while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance grew by 4.48 per cent to close at 70k.
However, the total volume of trade decreased by 47.2 per cent to 214.32 million units valued at N2.69 billion in 4,410 deals.
This was against a turnover of 405.74 million shares worth N9.83 billion traded in 3,880 deals on Friday.
Transactions in the shares of Transcorp topped the activity chart with 39.35 million shares valued at N43.05 million.
FBN Holdings followed with 25.49 million shares worth N305.97 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company traded 24.81 million shares valued at N625.09 million.
Zenith Bank traded 20.92 million shares valued at N532.96 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 10.36 million shares worth N27.22 million.