By Dipo Olowookere
The three most capitalised equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa, contributed to the 1.86 percent loss posted by the market on Thursday.
The three musketeers were among the 18 price losers reported at yesterday’s session as against the 10 price gainers recorded at the close of trade.
Nestle Nigeria, which topped the decliners’ chart, suffered a loss of N65 to finish at N1280 per share and was followed by Airtel Africa, which went down by N35.90k to settle at N323.50k per unit.
MTN Nigeria depreciated by N3 to finish at N130 per share, CCNN declined by N1.50k to close at N13.85 per share, while Dangote Cement fell by 50 kobo to quote at N173 per share.
But on the flip side, GTBank closed the day as the biggest price gainer, appreciating by 95 kobo to end at N30 per share.
Nigerian Breweries gained 50 kobo to close at N61 per unit, while Lafarge Africa increased its share value by 15 kobo to quote at N13.70k per share.
Custodian Investment and Ecobank appreciated by 5 kobo each yesterday to respectively finish at N6.20k and N9.95k.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) fell yesterday to a level last recorded eight weeks ago. The index lost 543.7 points to settle at 28,712.90 points against 29,256.60 of the previous session.
In addition, the market capitalisation went down by N265 billion to finish at N13.993 trillion in contrast to N14.258 trillion of the previous day.
A look at the volume of the trades showed that it decreased by 0.18 percent to 188.4 million from 188.8 million, while the value depreciated by 14.61 percent to N3.2 billion from N3.7 billion.
FBN Holdings attracted the most attention of investors at yesterday’s session, selling 50.1 million units of its shares worth N302.3 million.
Zenith Bank traded 21.1 million units for N404.3 million, while Access Bank sold 18.9 million shares valued at N125.5 million.
UBA exchanged 13.1 million equities worth N77.5 million, while GTBank transacted 13 million shares valued at N380.7 million.
