By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) further depreciated by 0.38 percent on Wednesday on the back of sustained sell pressure.
The decline yesterday was as a result of profit-taking in the energy sector (-4.11 percent) and consumer goods index (-1.63 percent). Their performance overcame the gains recorded in the insurance (0.87 percent) and banking (0.24 percent) sectors. The industrial goods space closed flat.
When market activities were wrapped up at the midweek session, the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 95.07 points to 24,654.99 points from 24,750.06 points.
Similarly, the market capitalisation decreased yesterday by N49 billion to settle at N12.862 trillion as against the previous closing level of N12.911 trillion.
The market closed on Wednesday with 22 declining stocks and 17 appreciating equities.
Seplat led the losers’ chart after a decline of N42.80 to close at N386 per share, Guinness Nigeria depreciated by N1.50 to finish at N15 per share, Nigerian Breweries fell by N1.30 to settle at N34.70 per unit, GlaxoSmithKline reduced by 60 kobo to sell at N5.85 per unit, while PZ Cussons went down by 45 kobo to quote at N4.05 per share.
On the other hand, NAHCO led the gainers’ log after adding 15 kobo to its share price to settle at N2.66 per share.
Zenith Bank also gained 15 kobo to sell at N16.40 per unit, Caverton rose by 9 kobo to end at N1.99 per share, Champion Breweries improved by 7 kobo to quote at 95 kobo per share, while AIICO Insurance appreciated by 6 kobo to sell at 96 kobo per unit.
At the market, FBN Holdings was the most traded stock, selling 44.5 million units worth N241.1 million, while Zenith Bank followed with 21.4 million shares for N349.4 million.
Access Bank transacted 18.9 million shares valued at N124.6 million, Japaul Oil sold 10.8 million equities worth N2.6 million, while UBA exchanged 9.7 million shares for N61.1 million.
In all, a total of 189.3 million equities worth N1.9 billion were traded in 3,364 deals on Wednesday in contrast to the 167.9 million shares valued at N1.6 billion transacted on Tuesday in 3,783 deals, representing 12.69 percent and 23.82 percent increase in the volume and value of trades and 11.08 percent decline in the number of deals.
