NSE market capitalisation loses N83bn

Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed in red on Wednesday with a loss of 0.54 per cent in spite of dividends declared by Zenith Bank and GT Bank.
Zenith International Bank and GT Bank had announced dividends of N2.45 and N2.40 per share respectively for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2017.
In spite of the corporate actions, the market capitalisation dipped N83 billion or 0.54 per cent to close at N15.325 trillion against N15.408 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 43,073.45 lost 233.93 points or 0.54 per cent to close at 42,839.52, amid loses by some highly capitalised equities.
A breakdown of the losers’ chart indicated that Nestle topped the table with a loss of N20 to close at N1, 380 per share.
Total trailed with a loss of N3 to close at N246, while Dangote Sugar Refinery declined by N1.10 to close at N21.20 per share.
Cadbury shed 85k to close at N17.10 while NASCON and Allied Industries lost 70k to close at N21.30 per share.
Conversely, Nigerian Breweries recorded the highest gain, appreciating by 90k to close at N130.90 per share.
Stanbic IBTC followed with a gain of 55k to close at N49.15, while Dangote Cement increased by 40k to close at N268.80 per share.
Fidson Healthcare added 24k to close at N5.14, while UAC property advanced by 15k to close at N3.15 per share.
Similarly, the volume of shares transacted dropped by 8.44 per cent as investors bought and sold 373.52 million shares valued at N6.85 billion achieved in 5,220 deals.
This was against the 407.96 million shares worth N6.12 billion transacted in 5,247 deals on Tuesday.
The financial service sector remained the toast of investors with Fidelity Bank emerging the most active, accounting for 45.80 million shares worth N131.49 million.
Zenith International Bank followed with 36.34 million shares valued at N1.11 billion, while FBN Holdings sold 34.11 million shares worth N388.95 million.
Mansard Insurance traded 25.26 million shares valued at N69.73 million, while FCMB Group accounted for 25 million shares worth N63.34 million.