By Michael Eboh

The bearish trend in the    Nigerian capital market continued Monday, as key indicators of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded significant depreciation, brought about by profit-taking activities by investors.

Specifically, the key market indicators, the All-share index and market capitalisation both dropped by 0.98 per cent each. The capitalisation, representing the value of listed equities, dipped by N64.52 billion to close at N6.528 trillion from N6.593 trillion at which it opened, while the index shed 282.19 basis points to close at 28,627.29 points from 28,910.19 points at which it opened.

Okereke

The dip in the market indicators was engendered by losses in the share prices of majority of the listed equities, with Julius Berger Nigeria Plc recording the most share price loss, dropping by N1.50 to close at N32.50 per share, Guinness Nigeria Plc followed with a loss of N1.20 to close at N127.00 per share and Nigerian Bottling Company Plc dipped by N1.18 to close at N22.58 per share.

Other share price gainers include: Flour Mills Nigeria Plc N1.00, Union Bank Nigeria Plc N0.95, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated N0.90, Zenith Bank Plc N0.84, Damgote Flour Mills Plc N0.59, SCOA Nigeria Plc N0.56, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc N0.52 among others.

On the contrary, Oando Plc recorded the most share price gain, rising by N3.06 to close at N92.06 per share, Lafarge Cement WAPCO Plc followed with a gain of N1.21 to close at N25.54 per share and UAC Nigeria Plc garnered N0.90 to close at N41.90 per share.

Other share price gainers include: Benue Cement Company Plc N0.86, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc N0.84, UAC Property Development Company Plc N0.59, United Bank for Africa Plc N0.59, Access Bank Plc N0.45, Longman Nigeria Plc N0.40, May & Baker Nigeria Plc N0.33 among others.

The declining trend continued in equity trading, as a turnover of 521.43 million shares valued at N4.41 million was recorded in 8,686 deals, in contrast to Friday’s turnover of 550.75 million shares valued at N5.67 billion in 9,582 deals.

The Banking sub-sector dominated the other sub-sectors, accounting for 65.42 per cent of the market turnover, with 341.1 million shares valued at N3.58 billion in 5,149 deals. United Bank for Africa Plc recorded the highest transaction in the sub-sector, trading 57.13 million shares valued at N813.25 million in 493 deals, GTBank Plc followed with the exchange of 51.18 million shares valued at N666.03 million in 445 deals and Intercontinental Bank Plc recorded 45.8 million shares valued at N553.7 million in 413 deals.

The Insurance sub-sector followed on the sectorial analysis, accounting for 15 per cent of the market turnover, with 78.23 million shares valued at N78.8 million in 918 deals.