Following losses suffered by many bluechip companies, transactions on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) resumed trading for the month of July on a downward note yesterday, as market capitalisation declined by N21 billion.

At the close of transactions yesterday, market capitalisation of listed equities declined by 0.04 per cent to N56.580 trillion from N56.601 trillion reported on Friday. The All Share Index also depreciated by 36.66 basis points to 100020.83 points from 100057.49 points recorded the previous day.

Yesterday’s poor performance was primarily driven by losses recorded in the shares of Fidson, NGX Group, NASCON, Zenith Bank, UACN, Nigerian Breweries and Custodian and Allied Insurance.

As a result, year to date return went down by 33.76 per cent as NGX printed 28 losers against 20 gainers.

A review of trading during the day showed that Linkage Assurance led gainers table, increasing by 10 per cent to close at N1.10 kobo, Africa Prudential followed with a gain of 9.76 per cent to close at N9.

Unity Bank added 9.74 per cent to close at N1.69 kobo, Wapic Insurance garnered 8.96 per cent to close at 73 kobo. Sovereign Trust Insurance was up by 8.89 per cent to close at 49 kobo.

On the contrary, Etranzact recorded the highest loss with 10 per cent to close at N4.50 kobo. Fidson Healthcare trailed with a loss of 9.70 per cent to close at N13.50 kobo, Cornerstone dipped by 9.52 per cent to close at N1.90 kobo, Lasaco Insurance was down by 9.41 per cent to close at N2.31 kobo, UPDC REIT fell by 8.26 per cent to close at N5.

Analysts at SCM Capital Research, said: “The new trading quarter is expected to start strong but with mixed investor sentiment, focusing on upcoming earnings reports and interim dividends, especially in the banking sector. Bargain hunters are capitalizing on recent market pullbacks, and investors are encouraged to target stocks with strong fundamentals amidst ongoing portfolio repositioning.

Volume of transactions declined by 235.023 million, representing 46.11 per cent as investors traded 274.682 million shares valued at N3.712 billion in 10112 deals against 509.705 million shares cost N9.884 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 7945 deals.

Transactions in the shares of United Capital led market activities with 26.638 million shares valued at N737.254 million, Linkage Assurance followed with 23.913 million shares cost N26.302 million, AIICO Insurance traded 14.213 million shares worth N14.315 million, CWG exchanged 11.448 million shares cost N89.397 million while Unilever Nigeria Plc exchanged 11.119 million shares cost N4.039 million