By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The grip of the bears on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was further tightened on Tuesday, leading to a 0.39 percent decline in the absence of any positive trigger.
The All-Share Index (ASI), which closed the previous session at 29,936.33 points, depreciated by 117.53 points yesterday to end at 29,818.80 points, while the market capitalisation, which closed at N13.192 trillion on Monday, decreased by N52 billion to settle at N13.140 trillion.
Stocks like Nestle Nigeria contributed to the loss posted by the market yesterday as the company share price depreciated by N10 to finish at N1420 per share.
Trailing were Okomu Oil, which went down by N7.40k to finish at N66.60k per share, and CAP, which declined by N3.10k to close at N28 per share.
In addition, Julius Berger lost N2.15k to close at N19.50k per share, while International Breweries went down by N1.85k to end at N16.70k per share.
On the flip side, Mobil Nigeria topped the gainers’ table, with a price appreciation of N1 to settle at N164.50k per share.
Dangote Sugar appreciated by 30 kobo to close at N11 per share, while Oando increased its share value by 25 kobo to end at N3.95k per share.
Lafarge Africa rose by 20 kobo yesterday to finish at N9.95k per share, while Ecobank appreciated by 20 kobo to end at N10.20k per share.
Though the market closed negative on Tuesday, the level of transactions broadly improved, with the volume of shares traded increasing by 1.65 percent from 2.865 billion to 2.912 billion, while the value rose by 186.20 percent from N3.9 billion to N11.2 billion.
Wema Bank emerged as the most active stock at yesterday’s trading session, transacting 2.4 billion units worth N1.5 billion.
Zenith Bank followed after exchanging 410 million units valued at N8.2 billion, while Access Bank sold 13.7 million equities for N87.6 million.
UBA exchanged 9.8 million shares worth N59.5 million, while GTBank transacted 9.7 million equities for N297.4 million.
Adedapo Adesanya