MTN, FBN, others suffer loss as stock market loses N153.6bn

Nigerian stock market lost N153.6bn at the start of the week after the market capitalisation, which opened at N14.62 trillion, bowed to N14.46 trillion.

The decline was affected by recorded losses in medium and large capitalised stocks such as Nestle Nigeria, First Bank Holdings, MTN Nigeria, Lafarge Africa, GTBank and UBA.

The stock market started the week bearish as the all-share index also dipped by 1.05% to close at 27,772.19 index points having recorded 3,487 transactions on 200.16 million units of shares valued at N1.92 billion.

Nestle Nigeria shed the most on Monday with a 10% decline to close at N1,242 followed by Linkage Assurance, which lost 9.68% to close at N0.56. May & Baker Nigeria lost 6.91% to close at N2.02, Oando shed 4.17% to close at N3.45 while Jaiz bank rounded off the decliners list with 2.9% loss to close at N0.67.

ALSO READ: States under heavy debt burden, exceed debt to revenue ratios

Sovereign Trust Insurance led the gainers with 10% gain to close at N0.22 followed by Trans-nationwide Express, which stock value upped by 9.88% to close at N0.89. NPF Microfinance bank gained 9.82% to close at N1.23, Prestige Assurance gained 9.26% to close at N0.59 while Japaul Oil rounded off the list with 9.09% gain to close at N0.24.

First Bank Holding was the most actively traded stocks on the floor of the stock exchange on Monday, having traded in 35.91 million units of shares at N212.06 million across 297 deals followed by Transnational Corporation which traded 24.63 million units of shares valued at N23.58 million across 53 deals.

Zenith Bank traded in 18.57 million units of shares at N369.05 million across 400 deals, UACN traded 14.16 million units of shares at N120.22 million across 169 deals while Fidelity Bank capped the list with trades in 11.73 million units of shares at N24.92 million across 98 deals.