By Dipo Olowookere
For the first time in 13 consecutive trading sessions, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded a loss, going down by 0.95 per cent on Wednesday.
The decline was buoyed by profit-taking activities of investors, who have watched their portfolios grow in the past days as a result of renewed confidence in the market.
At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 275.02 points to finish at 28,634.35 points as against 28,909.37 points of the previous day. Also, the market capitalisation lost N144 billion to close at N14.967 trillion in contrast to N15.111 trillion on Tuesday.
MTN Nigeria was the heaviest loser yesterday, going down by N2.20 to settle at N140.50 per share and was trailed by Unilever Nigeria, which fell by N1.35 to close at N12.30 per unit.
Zenith Bank depreciated by N1.25 to sell for N19.55 per share, Guinness Nigeria went down by 90 kobo to end at N15 per share, while Lafarge Africa declined by 75 kobo to trade at N16.80 per unit.
At the other end, CAP was the biggest price gainer, rising by N1.60 to close at N18.70 per share and was trailed by NASCON, which appreciated by N1.05 to finish at N12 per unit.
Berger Paints gained 60 kobo to close at N6.70 per share, International Breweries grew by 36 kobo to close at N4.65 per share, while Africa Prudential appreciated by 25 kobo to trade at N5.75 per share.
Sectorially, only the energy space closed in the green territory at the midweek session after recording a 0.24 per cent growth.
The banking sector lost 3.27 per cent, the insurance counter depreciated by 1.99 per cent, the industrial goods sector fell by 0.34 per cent, while the consumer goods space declined by 0.10 per cent.
On the activity log, the trading volume increased by 11.13 per cent to 832.9 million shares from 749.5 million shares. The trading value grew by 0.46 per cent to N9.54 billion from N9.50 billion, while the number of deals increased by 13.68 per cent to 9,180 from 8,075.
Business Post observed that unlike in the previous sessions, FBN Holdings was the most active stock, trading 128.8 million units valued at N789.8 million.
Zenith Bank sold 120.6 million units worth N2.4 billion, UBA transacted 84.0 million equities for N577.2 million, Access Bank exchanged 78.9 million stocks worth N603.3 million, while GTBank traded 76.2 million shares valued at N2.4 billion.
Adedapo Adesanya