Equity market sheds N136bn

By Amaka Ifeakandu

Lagos

Trading activities on the floor of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday opened week in bearish trend, depreciating N136 billion.
Specifically, market capitalisation of listed equities declined by 0.85 per cent to N15.883 trillion from N16.019 trillion recorded on Friday. Also, the NSE All Share Index fell by 378.27 basis points to 44261.72 points from 44639.99 points traded the previous day. Investors for the day exchanged 426.873 million shares worth N2.766 billion in 5741 deals against 535.262 million shares valued at N3.608 billion made in 6054 deals. An analysis of the investment showed that
Betaglass led gainers table during the day, gaining N3.10 kobo to close at N65.45 kobo, Zenith International Bank followed with a gain of N0.70 kobo to close at N32.65 kobo, PZ industries appreciated by N0.55 kobo to close at N23.65 kobo, Nigerian Breweries added N0.50 kobo to N145.00 while Dangote Sugar grew by N0.35 kobo to close at N21.00.
On the contrary, Dangote Cement recorded the highest loss for the day, dropping by N8.00 to close at N270.00, Forte Oil trailed with a loss of N2.40 kobo to close at N46.05 kobo, Julius Berger down by N1.35 kobo to close at N28.65 kobo, Wapco declined by N1.00 to close at N53.00 while Cadbury Nigeria Plc decreased by N0.50 kobo to close at N15.50 kobo.
Further analysis indicated that, FCMB group was the most active stock during the trading 101.495 million shares worth N303.316 million, Skye Bank followed with account of 48.341 million shares valued at N66.368 million, Diamond Bank Plc exchanged 31.540 million shares cost N100.205 million. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria traded 27.731 million shares valued at N63.535 million while AIICO Insurance sold 27.627 million shares worth N24.311 million.