The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) reopened for September on a downturn, yesterday, as investors lost N362 billion, amid depreciation in 33 stocks.

Market capitalisation of listed companies declined 0.41 percent to N88.406 trillion from N88.769 trillion recorded last Friday. Also, the all-share index, which measures the performance of listed equities, dropped by 573.30 basis points to 139722.19 points from 140295.49 points traded on Friday.

Yesterday’s downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are Lafarge WAPCO, Eterna, Oando, Zenith, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and EllahLakes.

On market outlook, Coronation Merchant Bank said: “We expect trading to stay mixed as investors balance profit taking with selective positioning in fundamentally strong names.

“With most companies having released results, attention is shifting to the banking sector earnings anticipated in the coming days, which could set the tone for market sentiment.”

Volume of trades declined by 27.165 million, representing 6.25 per cent as investors traded 407.975 million against 435.14 million recorded last week Friday while value of transactions went up by 1.01 per cent to settle at N14.776 billion.

On the price movement chart, 33 stocks depreciated in price led by Eterna Plc, EllahLakes and Veritas Kapital, shedding 10 per cent each to close at N34.20 kobo, N12.19 and N1.89 kobo respectively, while Cham Plc trailed with a loss of 9.56 per cent to close at N2.65 kobo, Cuttix Plc was also down by 7.71 per cent to close at N3.23 kobo.

On the other hand, Sovereign Trust Insurance led gainers table with 10 per cent to close at N2.86 kobo, SCOA Plc followed with a gain of 9.83 per cent to close at N6.69 kobo, Cornerstone Insurance added 7.98 per cent to close at N6.90 kobo, Guinea Insurance appreciated by 7.75 per cent to close at N1.53 kobo, NSLTech increased by 4.71 per cent to close at 89 kobo.

Trading in the shares of FCMB group led market activities with 55.842 million shares valued at N601.688 million, Access Holdings followed with a total of 31.945 million shares valued at N843.018 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 26.153 million shares worth N547.922 million, NSLTech traded 22.358 million shares worth N19.517 million, while AIICO Insurance sold a total of 17.724 million shares cost N70.47 million.

Sectoral performance was largely negative, with the banking sector declining by 1.12 per cent, insurance by 0.05 per cent, consumer goods by 0.03 per cent, oil and gas by 0.45 per cent, and the industrial sector by 0.85 per cent. The only exception was the commodity sector, which posted a slight gain of 0.12 per cent.