By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) further closed in the red territory on Tuesday as profit taking persists.
Business Post reports that the market capitalisation suffered a heavy loss at the close of transactions, dropping below N13 trillion mark.
Specifically, the market capitalisation shed N295 billion to settle at N12.8 trillion, while the All-Share Index (ASI) slumped by 854.36 points to end at 37,096.60 points.
The stock market, which crashed by 2.25 percent, closed today’s trading with 11 gainers and 35 losers.
The decliners were led by Dangote Cement, which depreciated by N10 to finish at N225 per share, and Nigerian Breweries, which fell by N3 to end at N190 per share.
Also, Lafarge went down by N2.99k to finish at N60.1k per share, Forte Oil weakened by N2.50k to end at N51.50k per share, while Stanbic IBTC crashed by N2.5k to settle at N38.95k per share.
But at the other end, Seplat rose by N2 to close at N482 per share, while Conoil advanced by N1.30k to finish at N33.89k per share.
GlaxoSmithKline moved up by N1 to settle at N21 per share, Berger Paints progressed by 34k to close at N7.14k per share, and Unilever added 13k to end at N45.63k per share.
Like the previous day, Access Bank emerged investors’ toast with 179.3 million shares traded at N1.9 billion.
It was followed by Zenith Bank, which sold 40.2 million units for N937.3 million, and UBA, which transacted 24.9 million shares worth N233.6 million.
FBN Holdings exchanged 22 million shares valued at N133.8 million, and GTBank traded 11.9 million shares at N461.6 million.
In all, a total of 391.6 million shares exchanged hands on the floor of the NSE on Tuesday in 5,285 deals worth N5.4 billion.
As at the market resume for midweek trading tomorrow, investors hope that the August bears will withdraw for bulls to take over.
Dipo Olowookere