The Nigerian equity market on Monday extended a negative position as it recorded losses in some high capitalised stocks such as MTN Nigeria and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), amongst others.

Also, the market capitalisation decreased by N312.44 billion to close at N27.718 trillion from N28.031 trillion it stood on Friday, representing 1.11per cent decrease.

The All-Share-Index decreased by 111 basis points or 1.11 per cent to 51,400.53 points from 51,979.92 points recorded on Friday.

Consequently, it indicated a Year-to-Date (YTD) increased return of 21.33 per cent.

Analysts at GTI says, “The Nigerian stock market begins the week negative as investors continue to react to the recent interest rate hike and the prevailing sovereign risk.

“We expect the trend to persist throughout the week.”

The market breadth was negative as 13 stocks advanced and 17 stocks declined.

A breakdown of the price movement chart shows that CAP, FTNCocoa and NAHCO topped the gainers’ list with 10 per cent each to close at N18.17, 33k and N6.05 per share, respectively.

Multiverse Mining and Offshore Technology trailed with 7.89 per cent to close at N2.05, while Unity Bank rose by 7.14 per cent to close at 45k per share.

Mutual Benefits Assurance also rose by 4.17 per cent to close at 25k while Fidelity Bank inched up by 3.37 per cent to close at N3.37 per share.

On the other hand, MTN Nigeria led the losers’ chart, dropping by 6.99 per cent to close at N213 per share.

UCAP lost by 5.51 per cent to close at N12 while Cutix dipped by 5.46 per cent to close at N2.25 per share.

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RT Briscoe dropped by five per cent to close at 38k, while Sovereign Insurance dipped by 3.70 per cent to close at 26k per share.

In all, a total of 98.85 million shares valued at N2.51 billion were exchanged in 4,314 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 205.06 million shares worth N3.06 billion traded in 3,600 deals on Friday.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) was the toast of investors, accounting for 15.85 million shares valued at N141.23 million.

Zenith Bank came second with 12.27 million shares worth N262.25 million, while Transcorp sold 5.43 million shares valued at N6.19 million.

GTCO accounted for 5.7 million shares worth N105.72 million, while Dangote Sugar transacted 4.18 million shares valued at N66.83 million.

The Star