Capital market All-Share Index down by 3.58 per cent

A free fall of equities continued on Wednesday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with the major indicators dropping by 3.58 per cent, due to persistent profit taking.
Nestle led the laggards’ table, losing N41 to close at N779 per share.
Dangote Cement came second with a loss of N7.65 to close at N145.45, while 7-UP dipped N7 to close at N175 per share.
Nigerian Breweries shed N4.84 to close at N97.18, while Lafarge Africa dropped N3.55 to close at N91.31 per share.
Consequently, the All-Share Index slipped to 25,103.05 shedding 931.88 points or 3.58 per cent to close at 25,103.05, against the 26,034.93 achieved on Tuesday.
Also, the market capitalisation lost N320 billion or 3.57 per cent to close at N8.633 trillion, compared with the N8.953 trillion recorded on Tuesday.
On the other hand, Ashaka Cement topped the gainers’ chart, appreciating by N2.26 to close at N26.50 per share.
Custodian and Allied Insurance followed with a gain of 14k to close at N4.20, while NEM Insurance gained 2k to close at 67k per share.
Diamond Bank emerged the most-traded equity, exchanging 88.68 million shares worth N177.37 million transacted in 32 deals.
Unity Kapital Assurance sold 70 million shares valued at N35 million, achieved in one deal, while Zenith Bank sold 51.44 million shares worth N564.66 million, exchanged in 536 deals.
Fidelity Bank sold 35.72 million shares valued at N46.39 million in 115 deals and UBA posted a turnover of 31.08 million shares worth N86.13 million, traded in 271 deals.
In all, the volume of shares traded increased by 65.28 per cent with 369.23 million shares valued at N1.69 billion, transacted in 2,887 deals.
This was in contrast with the 223.39 million shares worth N2.51 billion, traded in 2,776 deals on Tuesday.