Activities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday returned to negative territory with the All-Share Index dropping by 0.74 per cent
The index lost 216.11 points or 0.74 per cent to close at 28,789.67 against 29,014.78 posted on Wednesday.
Also, the market capitalisation which opened at N9.974 trillion lost N75 billion to close at N9.899 trillion.
Mr Okechukwu Unegbu, former President, the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, said that the market failed to react positively to ministerial inauguration because “we are yet to get the environment right”.
Unegbu said that profit taking had remained the order of the day and urged the market regulators to rise up and ensure full protection of investors’ investment.
Nestle topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N7 to close at N810.
7UP came second with a loss of N4.40 to close at N180.10, while Lafarge Africa declined by N3.75 to close at N90 per share.
Nigerian Breweries shed N2.97 to close at N128.83, while Ecobank Transnational lost 58k to close at N17.02 per share.
Conversely, CAP led the gainers’ table growing by N1.95 to close at N40.95 per share.
It was followed by Stanbic IBTC with a gain of 89k to close at N20.89, while UAC Property gained 33k to close at N6.94 per share.
Ikeja Hotel appreciated by 15k to close at N3.48 and Dangote Flour Nigeria improved by 11k to close at N2.53 per share.
Total volume of shares transacted decreased by 47.29 per cent to 167.29 million, while value decreased by 10.34 per cent.
Consequently, investors bought and sold 167.29 million shares worth N1.30 billion achieved in 2,907 deals.
This was in contrast with 217.31 million shares valued N1.46 billion traded in 3,067 deals on Wednesday.
Zenith Bank drove the volume of shares traded, with a total of 18.47 million shares worth N315.91 million.
National Salt followed with a turnover of 14.59 million shares valued N104.31 million, while GT Bank transacted 13.60 million shares worth N319.04 million.
Investors also staked N24.39 million on 13.39 million shares of Skye Bank and Access Bank accounted for 12.29 million shares worth N57.45 million.
