Market cap down N19.1 billion as investors move 179mn shares

Trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) relapsed on Thursday as market capitalization; the barometer of investors’ worth dropped N19.1 billion to settle at N9.059 trillion.
The decline in market capitalization represents a loss of 0.21 percent from N9.078 trillion recorded on Wednesday. The All-Share Index (ASI) also depreciated 0.21 percent to close at 26,385.80 points following a loss of 55.41 points from previous days’ closing figure of 26,385.80 points.
Volume of stocks transacted by investors likewise dropped by 9.1 percent to 179.4 million units from 197.4 million units of shares transacted previously, while value traded increased by 42.2 percent to N1.5 billion from N1.05 billion. The day’s business was transacted in 2,928 deals in contrast to 3,410 deals recorded previously.
The day’s weak performance cut across the sub-sector indices most of which closed lower. The Oil and Gas Index recorded the highest loss of 1.59 percent on the back drop of losses in Total, Forte Oil, and Conoil. The Consumer goods index was next with a decline of 0.94 percent, The NSE 30 fell 0.27 percent while the Main Board depreciated 0.16 percent.
The Banking Index was the only index to record growth. It added 0.93 percent consequent on share value increases in UBA, Access, Zenith and Stanbic Bank.
The price movement table showed 13 companies appreciated, while 23 had their equity prices shaved. Livestock Feeds led on the gainers table by 4.94 percent to close at 85 kobo, UBA followed with an increase of 4.89 percent to close at N4.93, Cap Hotel grew 4.83 percent to close at N3.47, May and Baker appreciated 4.26 percent to close at 98 kobo, and Diamond Bank gained 3.03 percent to close at N1.02.
Nascon led the decliners, losing 9.70 percent to close at N7.63, Forte Oil dropped 9.20 percent to close at N73.99, Fidson depreciated 8.26 percent to close at N1.11, UAC-Property fell 5 percent to close at N2.85, while PZ Cussons depreciated 4.90 percent to close at N13.79.
UBA topped the activity chart for the day, with the sale of 36 million shares worth N175.1 million. FBN Holdings followed with 29.4 million shares worth N108.4 million, while Access Bank emerged the third most traded stock for the day with 16.5 million shares amounting to N107.5 million. Transcorp came fourth having traded 13.8 million units of shares valued at N12.4 million while UACP was fifth with 12 million shares worth N39 million.