The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) commenced trading for the week on Monday with a loss of 0.30 per cent.
The All-Share Index (ASI) specifically dipped 72.83 points to close at 24.753.92 compared to 24.826.75 achieved on Friday.
Also, to close at N12,913 trillion, the market capitalization that opened at N12.951 trillion lost N38 billion or 0.30 per cent.
The decline has been impacted by declines in small and large capitalized stocks, including: Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Nigerian Breweries, BUA Cement, Ardova, and Flour Mills.
Analysts at United Capital have said on business performance: “This week, we expect a tepid performance at the equity market, as investors continue to soft pedal on stock ahead of half year results.”
Analysts at Imperial Asset Research, too, expected some investors to hunt for a bargain element.
They added that some aggressive traders will buy into certain stocks that have shed weight in the weeks before.
They urged investors with long-term investment goals to continue building their portfolios in light of the current attractive valuation of the most fundamentally viable stocks.
Compared with 26 laggards, market breadth closed negative with 11 gainers.
Neimeth led the chart of losers to close at N1.39 per share in percentage terms, dropping 9.74 per cent.
Cutix went on to close at N1,60 per share with a loss of 9.09 per cent.
Honeywell and Stanbic IBTC Holdings dipped 8.33 per cent each to close at 99k per share and N30.25 per share.
Chams declined to close at 23k, per share by eight per cent.
In comparison, Japaul Oil led the gainers’ table in percentage terms to close at 25k per share, gaining 8.70 percent.
Nestle trailed to close at N1179 with 7.72 percent, while Fidson appreciated to close at N3.30 per share with 7.49 percent.
Sterling Bank garnered 6.67 per cent to close at N1.28, while Unity Bank appreciated by 5.26 per cent to close at 60k, per share.
In addition, the total volume of transacted shares decreased by 28.62 per cent to 124.69 million shares, worth N1.32 billion, traded in 3,843 transactions.
This was against a turnover of N2.01 billion valued at 174.68 million shares achieved in 3,695 deals on Friday.
The operation chart was dominated by transactions on Japaul Oil shares, with 13.61 million shares worth N3.30 million.
Guaranty Trust Bank came second with 11.35 million shares valued at N260.47 million, while Zenith Bank traded 10.43 million shares valued at N168.81 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) sold 7.97 million shares worth N50.48 million, while Chams transacted 7.86 million shares worth N1.85 million.