Activities on the Nigerian equities Market opened for the month of July on a negative note with the crucial market indices dropping by 1.18 per cent.

Specifically, the All Share Index lost 352.26 points or 1.18 per cent to 29,614.61 compared with 29,966.87 achieved on Friday.

Also, the market capitalisation which opened at N13.206 trillion shed N156 billion to close at N13.050 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries, Guaranty Trust Bank, Unilever Nigeria, and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI).

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited expect a mixed performance this week as investors take caution in selecting stocks ahead of first half of 2019 earnings releases.

Analysts at APT Securities and Funds Limited also said that “We retain our cautious trading advice in the short run. However, accumulation of fundamentally justified and dividend paying stocks for mid to long term is recommended.”

However, market breadth closed positive, with 21 gainers versus 16 losers.

Cornerstone Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, to close at 22k, per share.

NPF Micro Finance Bank followed with a gain 8.57 per cent to close at N1.14, while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance appreciated by 7.69 per cent to close at 28k per share.

Academy Press went up by 7.41 per cent to close at 29k, while Chams appreciated by 6.90 per cent to close at 31k per share.

Conversely, Red Star Express led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent, to close at N4.95 per share.

Transcorp followed with a decline of 9.73 per cent to close at N1.02, while Ecobank Transnational Inc (ETI) went down by 9.09 to close at N10 per share.

Guaranty Trust Bank by 6.99 per cent to close at N30.60, while Unilever Nigeria shed 6.97 per cent to close at N30.70 per share.

The total volume traded closed lower as investors bought and sold 107.44 million shares, worth N1.14 billion exchanged in 3,064 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 248.36 million shares valued at N5.403 billion in 3184 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Transcorp topped the activity chart, having accounted for 21.86 million shares valued at N22.46 million.