Trading opened on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) on Monday on a negative note due to profit taking in Airtel Africa and 22 others stocks.

The market capitalisation dipped N75 billion to close at N25.360 trillion from N25.435 trillion achieved on Friday.

Also, the All-Share Index lost 139.02 points to close at 47,063.28 compared with 47,202.30 posted on Friday.

Accordingly, the month-to-date and year-to-date returns moderated to 1.0 per cent and 10.2 per cent, respectively.

The negative performance of the market was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks, including Airtel Africa, Nigerian Exchange Group (NGXGroup), BUA Foods, Custodian Investment and Lafarge Africa.

However, the market closed at par with 23 gainers and 23 laggards.

Guinness, Learn Africa and NCR led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent each to close at N66.55, N1.65 and N3.63 per share, respectively.

University Press followed with 9.81 per cent to close at N2.91, while Academy Press up by 9.56 per cent to close at N1.49 per share.

Pharma-Deko rose by 9.09 per cent to close at N1.80, while NEM Insurance gained 8.13 per cent to close at N3.59 per share.

On the other hand, Japaul Gold and Ventures led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 7.69 per cent to close at 36k per share.

Courteville Business Solutions followed with 7.27 per cent to close at 51k, while Custodian Investment lost 5.70 per cent to close at N7.45 per share.

NGX Group declined 5.66 per cent to close at N25, while NPF Microfinance Bank shed 5.45 per cent to close at N2.08 per share.

The total volume traded increased by 8.51 per cent to 338.03 million units valued at N5.68 billion exchanged in 5,619 deals.

This was in contrast with 311.50 million shares worth N4.39 billion traded in 4,916 deals on Friday.

Transactions in the shares of Fidelity Bank topped the activity chart with 35.82 million shares valued at N104.93 million.

Access Bank followed with 33.85 million shares worth N353.72 million, while Transcorp traded 32.88 million shares valued at N38.51 million.

Sterling Bank traded 24.51 million shares worth N41.91 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank Holding Company transacted 23.18 million shares worth N613.44 million.

(NAN)