Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday sustained a negative trend with the market indicators recording marginal depreciation of 0.01 per cent.
The market capitalisation shed N1 billion or 0.01 per cent to close at N8.474 trillion against N8.475 trillion achieved on Tuesday.
Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 24,639.48 lost 1.57 points or 0.01 per cent to close at 24,637.91 due to price depreciation.
The Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Mounir Gwarzo, had attributed the persistent lull at the nation’s bourse to global oil shock, foreign exchange volatility and declining foreign reserve.
Gwarzo said that the challenges had affected the growth and development of the stock market.
He said that power generation and distribution companies and telecommunications firms operating in the country must be quoted on the exchange to deepen the market and create liquidity.
Nestle recorded the highest loss, shedding N30 to close at N645 per share.
Mobil Oil trailed with a loss of N11.99 to close at N150, while Betaglass dropped N2.27 to close at N43.23 per share.
Okomu Oil Palm declined by N1.21 to close at N30.04 and Flour Mills shed 29k to close at N20 per share.
On the other hand, Nigerian Breweries led the gainers’ table, growing by N1.99 to close at N106.99 per share.
GT Bank followed with a gain of 63k to close at N14.83, while Presco gained 41k to close at N35.01 per share.
Oando increased by 26k to close at N4.52, while Access Bank appreciated by 15k to close at N3.71 per share.
A breakdown of the activity chart indicated that Zenith Bank emerged the most traded, accounting for 22.99 million shares valued at N252.87 million.
It was followed by Transcorp with a turnover of 17.81 million shares worth N18.34 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 17.69 million shares valued at N259.86 million.
NEM Insurance sold 12.71 million shares worth N9.71 million and UBA transacted 12.16 million shares valued at N34.40 million.
In all, investors bought and sold 162.47 million shares worth N1.02 billion exchanged in 3,079 deals.
This was in contrast to 6.96 billion shares valued at N7.16 billion traded in 3,440 deals on Tuesday.
