Chinwendu Obienyi

Sell-offs in the shares of Nestle, MTNN and GT Bank on Monday, dragged the value of equities trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), resulting to a 3.5 per cent decrease in the year-to-date return (YTD) of the market.

This was as the All Share Index (ASI) slipped 1.05 per cent to close at 27,773.20 points, while market capitalisation declined by N153.6 billion to close yesterday’s transaction at N14,464 trillion.

Similarly, activity level weakened as volume and value traded fell 34.1 and 69.9 per cent to 200.2 million units and N1.9 billion respectively, exchanged in 3,487 deals. The most active stocks by volume were FBN Holdings (35.9 million shares), Transcorp (24.6 million shares) and Zenith Bank (18.6 million shares) while MTNN (N462.3 million), Zenith Bank (N369.1 million) and Nestle (N268.5 million) led by value.

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On price movement chart, 17 stocks appreciated while 17 others depreciated. Sovereign Insurance topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at 0.22 kobo per share, TransExpress followed with 9.88 per cent to close at 0.89 kobo, NPF Microfinance Bank rose by 9.82 per cent to close at N1.23, Prestige increased by 9.26 per cent to close at 0.59 kobo while Japaul oil garnered 9.09 per cent to close at 0.24 kobo.

Nestle, on the other hand, led the losers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N1,242 per share. Linkage Assurance was next with 9.68 per cent to close at 0.56 kobo, May and Baker dropped 6.91 per cent to close at N2.02, Oando lost 4.17 per cent to close at N3.45, while Jaiz Bank fell by 2.90 per cent to close at 0.67 kobo.

According to Afrinvest, “the earnings releases will dictate performance this week. However, we are not optimistic about the market”.

Meanwhile Access Bank Plc has notified the investing public of its application to the Luxembourg Stock Exchange for the admission of its N15 billion 15.5 per cent 5-year Fixed Rate Unsecured Climate-Credential Green Bond.