Nigerian Stock Market Loses N93 Billion

BEVERLY HILLS, January 05, (THEWILL) – The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday dropped further by N93 billion for the second consecutive day.

At the end of trading, the market capitalisation lost N93 billion or 0.95 per cent to close at N9.664 trillion, against the N9.757 trillion recorded on Monday, amid profit taking.

In the same vein, the All-Share Index lost 268.18 points or 0.95 per cent to close at 28,102.14, compared with the 28,370.32 achieved on Monday.

A number of major blue chip companies posted price depreciations with Nestle leading the laggards' pack, shedding N10 to close at N820 per share.

Mobil Oil trailed with a loss of N8 to close at N152, while Nigerian Breweries shed N6.46 to close at N122.74 per share.

Stanbic IBTC dipped N1.53 to close at N15 and GlaxoSmithkline depreciated by N1.39 to close at N31.10 per share.

Conversely, Total led the gainers' table, increasing by N1.49 to close at N148.50 per share while ETI followed with a gain of 84k to close at N17.64.

The Cement Company of Northern Nigeria also chalked up 84k to close at N17.64 per share while Seplat and Access Bank followed with a gain of 10k each to close at N203.10 and N4.95 per share respectively.

The volume of shares traded closed lower with a total of 195.97 million shares worth N1.89 billion achieved in 2,975 deals in contrast with the 700.52 million shares valued at N98.97 billion transacted in 2,307 deals on Monday.

A breakdown of the activity chart indicated that Custodian and Allied Insurance emerged the investors' delight, exchanging 46.04 million shares worth N188.22 million, traded in 23 deals.

GT Bank sold 31.96 million shares valued at N574.76 million in 436 deals, while UBA accounted for 21.45 million shares worth N72.86 million, transacted in 161 deals.

Access Bank exchanged 18.38 million shares worth N75.09 million in 150 deals and Zenith Bank traded 13.19 million shares valued at N187.07 million, achieved in 290 deals.