By Dipo Olowookere
The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was depleted on Tuesday by N70 billion by 17 equities.
The losses recorded by these stocks reduced the total value of the market to N12.859 trillion from the previous day’s N12.929 trillion.
It equally reduced the All-Share Index (ASI) of the local bourse by 133.45 points to 24,650.16 points from 24,783.61 points it closed on Monday.
According to data from the exchange, the profit-taking-induced loss yesterday was largely from the oil/gas sector, which had its index down by 5.20 per cent.
Also, the banking space depreciated during the trading day by 0.45 per cent, while the consumer goods counter lost 0.13 per cent.
However, Business Post observed that the insurance index finished 0.43 per cent higher, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
Yesterday, Seplat, which promised to release its half-year results this morning, lost N30.70 to settle at N282 per share.
Total Nigeria depreciated by N9.70 to end at N87.80 per share, MTN Nigeria declined by N2 to close at N118 per unit, Julius Berger fell by N1 to N15 per share, while GTBank reduced by 70 kobo to sell at N22.60 per unit.
A total of 14 stocks closed in the green territory on Tuesday and were led by Okomu Oil, which gained N4.45 to settle at N74.95 per unit.
Berger Paints appreciated by 55 kobo to close at N6.05 per share, Zenith Bank improved by 45 kobo to quote at N16.35 per unit, Oando rose by 12 kobo to sell at N2.27 per share, while United Capital gained 9 kobo to trade at N2.86 per unit.
At the trading session, the level of activity was weak as the trading volume declined by 11.53 per cent to 150.4 million units from 170.0 million.
Also, the trading value went down by 17.08 per cent to N2.0 billion from N2.4 billion, while the number of deals depreciated by 12.82 per cent to 3,780 from 4,336.
The busiest stock of the day was Mutual Benefits Assurance, which transacted 26.9 million units valued at N5.6 million.
FBN Holdings traded 17.0 million equities worth N84.2 million, Access Bank exchanged 11.2 million shares for N69.8 million, Lafarge Africa transacted 10.6 million stocks worth N130.8 million, while GTBank sold 8.5 million equities valued at N190.4 million.
