By Dipo Olowookere
For the fourth time this week, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed in the negative territory as investors continue to take profit from the gains posted last week.
The All-Share Index (ASI) consequently declined further on Thursday by 24.88 points or 0.09 percent to 26,913.70 points from 26,938.58 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N12 billion to N12.990 trillion from N13.002 trillion.
However, the volume of shares traded by investors improved in the day by 83.60 percent to 207.3 million from 112.9 million, while the value of the trades rose by 164.26 percent to N2.9 billion from N1.1 billion, with the number of deals increasing by 26.34 percent to 3,842 from 3,041.
There were heavy activities around shares of UAC Nigeria. The company sold a total of 40.2 million units worth N315.9 million, while Access Bank followed with 28.3million units valued at N260.1 million.
GTBank sold 27.7 million shares for N837.7 million, Zenith Bank traded 25.9 million equities worth N484.6 million, while FBN Holdings transacted 23.8 million shares valued at N159.2 million.
It was observed that the market came under pressure yesterday as a result of selloffs in the banking space (-0.67 percent), the insurance sector (-2.52 percent) and the energy space (-0.03 percent). Only two sectors closed positive; consumer goods rose by 0.69 percent, while industrial goods appreciated by 0.01 percent.
Arbico was the highest price loser on Thursday, going down by 47 kobo to close at N4.32 per unit, while Fidson Healthcare lost 35 kobo to finish at N3.40 per share.
Access Bank went down by 25 kobo to close at N9.05 per unit, MedView Airline depreciated by 18 kobo to settle at N1.62 per share, while FBN Holdings declined by 15 kobo to end at N6.65 per unit.
At the other end, Dangote Sugar appreciated by N1.10 to close at N14.80 per unit, while UAC Nigeria gained 50 kobo to close at N8.05 per share.
Nigerian Breweries improved by 15 kobo to end at N51.20 per share, Cutix appreciated by 6 kobo to trade at N1.54 per unit, United Capital rose by 4 kobo to end at N2.30 per share.
