Market indicators of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday depreciated further by 2.09 per cent amid profit taking just as predicted by market analysts.
The market capitalisation, which opened at N8.196 trillion, shed N172 billion or 2.09 per cent to close at N8.024 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index lost 498.74 points or 2.09 per cent to close at 23,333.34 compared to 23,832.08 posted on Tuesday.
Market analysts said that the market would record further depreciation with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rates retention and stance on foreign exchange policy.
Major blue chip equities dropped in value with Nigerian Breweries leading the laggards’ chart with N4.99 to close at N96.65 per share.
It was followed by Guinness with a loss of N3 to close at N109, while Dangote Cement declined by N2.33 to close at N127.50 per share.
Lafarge Africa dropped N2.16 to close at N78.84, while Zenith Bank depreciated by 92k to close at N11.20 per share.
Conversely, Seplat led the gainers’ table growing by N14.12 to close at N185 per share.
Mobil followed with a gain of N2.50 to close at N140.50, while Cadbury improved by 79k to close at N16.71 per share.
NASCON gained 31k to close at N6.69, while UAC Property appreciated by 12k to close at N5.20 per share.
The volume of shares traded grew by 82.35 per cent with a total of 260.48 million shares valued N1.70 billion exchanged in 3,465 deals.
This was against a total of 142.85 million shares worth N1.64 billion transacted in 3,298 deals on Tuesday.
UBA drove the activity chart, trading 59.64 million shares worth N163.16 million in 239 deals.
Zenith Bank followed with a turnover of 39.67 million shares valued N443.55 million exchanged in 462 deals, while FBN Holdings sold 29.24 million shares worth N114.45 million in 396 deals.
Investors staked N411.06 million on 27.54 million shares of GT Bank traded in 403 deals and Transcorp exchanged 17.35 million shares valued N20.661 million achieved in 152 deals.
