By Dipo Olowookere
Profit-taking by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday brought the market down by 0.16 percent to reduce the year-to-date gain to 2.20 percent.
Seplat, which released its 2018 financial figures hours after the commencement of the trading day, led 19 other stocks to the red zone after going down by N22.10k to finish at N596.90k per share.
Though the firm improved its topline by 65.16 percent, its profit after tax depreciated by 45.1 percent, with $0.05 recommended as dividend.
Other price losers at the market yesterday were CCNN, which lost N1 to close at N19 per share, and GlaxoSmithKline, which depreciated by 40 kobo to end at N11.50k per share.
Ecobank fell by 30 kobo to settle at N13.70k per share, while eTranzact declined by 29 kobo to close at N2.64k per unit.
There were a total of eight price risers at the market on Wednesday with Dangote Cement leading the pack with 50 kobo growth to end at N196.50k per share.
GTBank added 35 kobo to its share value to quote at N37.95k per share, while Access Bank gained 10 kobo to finish at N6.10k per share.
United Capital and FBN Holdings both appreciated by 15 kobo to close at N3.30k per share and N8.15k per share respectively.
Business Post reports that the total volume and value of equities transacted by investors decreased yesterday by 47.96 percent and 19.60 percent to 208.6 million and N2.8 billion respectively.
Zenith Bank stocks caught the attention of investors yesterday, accounting for 45.4 million units sold for N1.1 billion.
GTBank exchanged 23.1 million shares worth N872.9 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 20.2 million equities valued at N46.5 million.
Access Bank transacted 15.6 million shares worth N94.2 million, while Transcorp sold 13.9 million shares for N17.5 million.
For the All-Share Index (ASI), it decreased during the midweek session by 51.92 points to finish at 32,121.74 points, while the market capitalisation depreciated by N19.4 billion to close at N11.979 trillion.
