The Nigerian Exchange Limited’s equities market fell by N38bn at the end of trading on Monday as 13 firms’ share prices declined.

Equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), on Monday, was unimpressive as the benchmark index shed 0.14 per cent to start a new week on a negative note amidst low turnover.

Specifically, the All-Share-Index (ASI) settled at 49,626.05 basis points as against its previous close of 49,695.12 basis points, leaving both the month-to-date and year-to-date performance lower to -0.42 per cent and 16.18 per cent from their previous close of -0.28 per cent and 16.34 per cent respectively.

Investors, therefore, lost N38 billion from their net worth as the market capitalisation followed suit the direction of the ASI to stand at N26.767 trillion, representing a 0.14 per cent decrease from the N26.805 trillion it stood at the end of the previous trading session.

Bears’ and bears’ camps wrangled over the market breadth with 13 counters apices in both the losers’ and gainers’ charts.

Multiverse gained 9.32 per cent to become the best-performing stock in the session, followed by FTN Cocoa, CHAMS, Academy Press and Regal Insurance as they populated the top five gainers’ chart, while from the rear of the chart Beta Glass, NEM Insurance, Japaul Gold, Fidelity Bank and FCMB Group populated the top five losers’ chart.

All sectoral indices closed in the same direction as the ASI, save the NGX Consumer Goods sector which gained 0.02 per cent while NGX Growth and NGX ASEM sectors closed flat.

Market activity as measured by both volume value of trades waned in the session with daily traded volume standing at 86.594 million units, representing a 72.86 per cent downtick from a volume of 319.085 million units traded in the previous session.

The value of those traded stocks dropped by 37.22 per cent in the session to stand at N1.170 billion as against a value of N1.864 billion recorded in the previous trading session.

Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) was the top traded stock by volume for the trading session, followed by Sterling Bank, Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank and CHAMS to complete the list of the five most traded stocks by volume.

With regard to the value of the traded stocks, GTCO took the lead of the top five performers, flanked by MTN Nigeria, Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC and Presco.