Trading sways southward on NSE

Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) swayed southward on Thursday with the market indices reversing previous growth to drop by 0.15 per cent.
Consequently, the All Share Index (ASI) decreased by 40.70 points or 0.15 per cent to close at 26,357.24 against 26,397.94 achieved on Wednesday.
Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N19 billion or 0.15 per cent to close at N12.831 trillion in contrast with N12.850 trillion on Wednesday.
The downtrend was impacted by losses recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, among which are Guinness Nigeria, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria, Lafarge Africa, Custodian Investment and Ikeja Hotel.
Market breadth closed negative, with five gainers versus 20 losers.
Forte Oil recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N17.60 per share.
Consolidated Hallmark Insurance came second with a gain 8.82 per cent to close at 37k, while Sterling Bank appreciated by 2.78 per cent to close at N1.85 per share.
Dangote Sugar grew by 2.78 per cent to close at N1.85, while Continental Reinsurance appreciated by 1.29 per cent, to close at N2.35 per share.
Conversely, Guinness Nigeria led the losers’ chart, dropping by 9.88 per cent to close at N26.45 per share.
GlaxoSmithKline followed with a loss of 9.38 per cent to close at N5.80, while Ikeja Hotel depreciated by 9.32 per cent to close at N1.07 per share.
UACN Property dipped 9.17 per cent to close at 99k, while McNichols shed 6.12 per cent to close at 46k per share.
However, the total volume traded surged 54.41 per cent to 449.24 million shares valued at N1.64 billion traded in 2,810 deals.
This was in contrast with 290.94 million shares worth N2.78 billion transacted in 2,668 deals on Wednesday.
Omoluabi Mortgage Bank topped the activity chart with 272 million shares valued at N149.6 million.
FCMB Group followed with 36.15 million shares worth N57.84 million, while Transcorp traded 29.34 million shares valued at N29.17 million.
Zenith Bank traded 24.06 million shares worth N409.22 million, while United Bank for Africa transacted 10.25 million shares worth N190.29 million.