By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained bearish on Thursday amid sell-off by investors.
For the fourth straight trading session this week, the market closed negative, going down by 0.49 percent at the close of business today, while the year-to-date gain settled at 13.29 percent with the market closing with 18 price risers and 26 price fallers.
Business Post reports that Nestle was the heaviest price loser at the stock market on Thursday, shedding N70.20k of its share value to settle at N1,372.80k per share.
It was also not a good day for Nigerian Breweries, which lost N4.60k to close at N137.40k per share, and Stanbic IBTC, which depreciated by 30k to end at N45.5k per share.
Union Bank declined by 20k today to finish at N8.25k per share, while FBN Holdings went down by 20k to close at N12.55k per share.
But on the flip side, Forte Oil appreciated by N2.25k to close at N48.20k per share, while International Breweries rose by N1.50k to finish at N59 per share.
Dangote Cement went up by N1 to end at N265 per share, Flour Mills grew by 80k to settle at N33 per share, and Cadbury Nigeria improved by 65k to close at N15.50k per share.
A look at the market indices indicated that the market capitalisation depleted by N75.8 billion to close at N15.548 trillion, while the All-Share Index (ASI) sank by 211.27 points to finish at 43,326.89 points.
However, the volume and value of shares traded by investors today increased by 336.94 percent and 63.98 percent respectively.
A total of 2.2 billion shares worth N7.5 billion were traded by investors on Thursday in 5,468 deals in contrast to the 508.3 million equities sold on Wednesday in 6,155 deals valued at N4.6 billion.
This was buoyed by the high volume of trade in Sterling Bank shares at the stock market today, trading a total of 1.8 billion units worth N3.8 billion.
Skye Bank sold 111.2 million equities for N113.7 million, while UBA exchanged 43 million units valued at N531.4 million.
Jaiz Bank transacted 32.6 million shares worth N33.7 million, while FCMB traded 32.5 million equities valued at N89 million.
At the close of the market on Thursday, the Financial Services sector topped the activity chart after selling a total of 2.2 billion shares worth N6.03 billion, while the Consumer Goods sector followed with 21.2 million shares traded for N908 million.
Business Post expects the market to close negative again tomorrow as a result of continued profit taking, though on a minimal level.
