The Nigerian bourse commenced the trading week bearish as Index down N196bn Monday

Trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was bearish on Monday as investors lose N196 billion on the trading day.

The market capitalisation shed N196 billion or 1.61 per cent to close at N12.004 trillion against N12.200 trillion on Friday even as the All-Share Index which opened at 32,715.50 lost 525.43 points or 1.61 per cent to close at 32,190.07 as a result of losses suffered by blue chip stocks.

The equity market which climbed past a three-month high on February 15 reversed growth due to extensive profit taking by investors.

An analysis of the price movement chart shows that Total recorded the highest loss, dropping by N15 to close at N190 per share.

Mobil Oil trailed with a loss of N8 to close at N75, while Guaranty Trust Bank was down by N1.45 to close at N36.50 per share.

Cement Company of Northern Nigeria declined by N1 to close at N20 per share.

Conversely, Nestle led the gainers’ table with a growth of N35 to close at N1, 800 per share.

Betaglass followed with a gain of N6.70 to close at N79, while Presco gained N6.60 to close at N72.60 per share.

Cap added N2.20 to close at N34, while Dangote Flour increased by 45k to close at N9.60 per share.

Also, the volume of shares transacted dipped by 71.13 per cent, while value of shares traded dropped by 48.23 per cent.

Consequently, investors bought and sold 233.42 million shares valued at N3.36 billion in 4,134 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 808.65 million shares worth N6.49 billion traded in 6,177 deals on Friday.

Access Bank dominated trading activities accounting for 25.32 million shares worth N160.16 million.

Chams followed with an exchange of 21.70 million shares valued at N4.34 million, while United Bank for Africa traded 20.45 million shares worth N157.19 million.

Zenith Bank exchanged 15.68 million shares valued at N375.32 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded a total of 13.86 million shares worth N519.12 million.