By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) further depreciated by 0.58 per cent on Tuesday following sustained profit-taking by equities’ investors.
The selloff by the market participants reduced the market capitalisation by N75 billion to N12.981 trillion from N13.056 trillion the previous day.
Also, it weakened the All-Share Index (ASI) by 143.91 points to 24,883.70 points from 25,027.61 points, expanding the year-to-date loss to 7.2 per cent.
The loss was mainly from the insurance sector, which fell by 2.48 per cent and the industrial goods space, which depreciated by 2.16 per cent.
Business Post observed that gains in the consumer goods sector (+0.93 per cent), banking index (+0.52 per cent) and energy counter (+0.26 per cent) could not lift the market yesterday.
At the close of transactions, Dangote Cement, which lost N5.80, led the decliners’ group to settle at N136 per share.
Guinness Nigeria depreciated by 50 kobo to close at N14.50 per unit, Axa Mansard fell by 13 kobo to N1.45 per share, Ikeja Hotel lost 11 kobo to finish at N1.01 per share, while United Capital declined by 10 kobo to N3.14 per unit.
At the other end, Nigerian Breweries was the biggest price gainer yesterday, adding N2 to its share value to finish at N34 per unit.
Value Alliance gained N1.55 kobo to sell for N115.05 per share, Ardova appreciated by 60 kobo to close at N12.75 per share, Cadbury Nigeria increased its price by 45 kobo to N7.05 per unit, while GTBank gained 25 kobo to trade at N24.80 per share.
During trading on Tuesday, investors transacted 206.6 million stocks worth N2.5 billion in 3,925 deals in contrast to the 167.1 million shares worth N2.0 billion traded in 4,036 deals on Monday.
There was a huge interest in the shares of Access Bank yesterday as the company traded 29.2 million units valued at N191.6 million.
Fidelity Bank transacted 27.8 million stocks for N50.1 million, GTBank exchanged 25.3 million equities for N625.6 million, Zenith Bank traded 15.3 million shares worth N257.8 million, while Wema Bank transacted 11.1 million equities for N6.0 million.
