MARKET NEWS

The Nigerian Exchange Limited opened the new month on a bearish note as investors lost N150bn at the close of trading on Tuesday, July 1.

The market capitalisation dropped from N75.95 tn on Monday to N75.8 tn, reflecting renewed profit-taking by investors after a strong rally in June.

At the end of the session, the All-Share Index fell by 237.34 points, or 0.2 per cent, to close at 119,741.23. This brought the market’s week-to-date loss to 0.04 per cent, although it maintained a 7.09 per cent gain in the past four weeks and a 16.34 per cent year-to-date return.

Trading activity declined sharply as a total of 527.08 million shares valued at N11.28bn were exchanged in 21,546 deals. This represents a 63 per cent drop in volume, a 74 per cent drop in turnover, and a 14 per cent drop in deals compared to the previous session.

A total of 129 stocks participated in the day’s trade, ending with 47 gainers and 23 losers. Honeywell Flour Mill led the gainers’ chart with a 10 per cent rise to close at N23.65, followed by RT Briscoe, McNichols, and Mutual Benefits Assurance, which also gained 10 per cent each. LASACO, Meyer, and other mid-tier stocks also posted significant gains.

On the losers’ side, University Press recorded the highest loss of the day with a 10 per cent decline to close at N5.04. SCOA Nigeria dropped by 9.83 per cent, Thomas Wyatt Nigeria fell by 9.57 per cent, while PZ Cussons declined by 7.89 per cent.

In terms of volume, Ellah Lakes led with 46.05 million shares traded, followed by UPDC with 38.5 million shares and Universal Insurance with 30.4 million shares. Nigerian Breweries, however, topped the value chart with N1.74bn worth of shares traded.

Performance across key sectoral indices was mixed. The Consumer Goods Index rose by 31.6 per cent, and the Banking Index gained 17.99 per cent. Meanwhile, the Premium Index dipped by 0.92 per cent. Other notable gainers included the Top 30 Index, which rose by 6.8 per cent, and the Pension Index, which climbed 9.59 per cent.

Despite the positive performance in several sectors, the market opened the second half of the year on a negative footing as cautious sentiment returned to the trading floor.

The PUNCH reported that the Nigerian Exchange closed the month of June with a gain of N5.32tn as investor appetite for stocks remained strong, but trading opened in the red on the last day of the month with a marginal decline in the benchmark index.