By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading session after Nigeria celebrated its 59th Independence Day on Tuesday ended on a negative note as investors maintained their resolve to continue to take profit amid developments in the country as well as on the global scene.
The stock market finished 1.14 percent lower on Wednesday with the All-Share Index (ASI) going down by 315.69 points to close at 27,314.87 points and the market capitalisation depreciating by N153 billion to settle at N13.297 trillion.
Also not spared in the reddish mode was the level of activity as the volume of shares transacted by investors went down by 9.76 percent to 175.8 million from 194.8 million, while the value of the trades dwindled by 16.18 percent to N2.6 billion from N3.1 billion.
A further analysis showed that financial stocks were the most attractive at the market yesterday, selling a total of 95.8 million shares worth N1.1 billion, with stocks in the consumer goods space following with a turnover of 36.6 million units valued at N675 million.
GTBank was the most traded equity yesterday as a total of 25.3 million units were sold for N684.2 million, while Transcorp followed with 20.8 million shares worth N21.2 million.
NASCON exchanged 20.0 million units valued at N274.1 million, FBN Holdings transacted 17.4 million equities for N94.3 million, while Access Bank traded 10.6 million shares worth N80.2 million.
On the losers’chart, Mobil Oil Nigeria topped the chart with a loss of N14.50 to close at N139 per share, while Total Nigeria lost N6.30 to finish at N123.20 per unit.
Nigerian Breweries fell by N3.50 to close at N49 per share, GTBank depreciated by N2.20 to settle at N27 per unit, while MRS Oil declined by N1.85 to finish at N16.95 per unit.
On the flip side, Forte Oil topped the gainers’ table with a price appreciation of 60 kobo to close at N16.40 per share, while Flour Mills followed with a growth of 30 kobo to settle at N14.60 per share.
NASCON also improved by 30 kobo to finish at N13.70 per unit, Continental Reinsurance grew by 20 kobo to end at N2.27 per unit, while Lafarge Africa appreciated by 10 kobo to close at N16 per share.
