Market capitalisation falls by 0.1%

Equity trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange continued to witness weak dealings on Thursday, with major indicators losing marginally.The market capitalisation of the listed shares fell by 0.1 per cent or N7bn from N6.275tn to close at N6.269tn on Thursday.Similarly, the NSEs All-Share Index, dropped by 0.1 per cent or 20.91 basis points from 19,849.31 on Wednesdays close to 19,828.40The NSE-30 Index was down marginally by 0.1 per cent to close at 885.10 basis points, down from 885.63 recorded the previous day.The NSE Food/Beverage Index and the Insurance Index dropped by 0.2 per cent and 0.5 per cent to close at 547.48 and 257.25 points respectively.The NSE Banking Index on the other hand, recorded marginal appreciation, rising by 0.1 per cent to close at 257.25 points.Analysts attributed the marginal slide in activities to weak dealings on the part of investors.According to them, market breadth closed weaker as more stocks continued to shed weight on the back of growing selling tendency among investors.They added that that was evident from the losses recorded in the share prices of some highly capitalised stocks such as Dangote Flour Mills Plc, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated Plc, Okomu Oil Palm Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, and Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc.The banking sub-sector maintained its lead on the activity chart, accounting for 76 per cent of total turnover traded.In the banking sub-sector, 170.48 million shares, valued at N1.530m were exchanged by investors in 1,758 transactions.Trading in the shares of Zenith Bank Plc drove the sub-sectors turnover, accounting for 56 per cent of volume in the sub-sector.Other companies that recorded high turnover in the sub-sector included Access Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, GTB and First Bank of Nigeria Plc.Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc emerged the highest price gainer at the close of activities, rising by 4.9 per cent or 36 kobo to close at N7.64 per share.Law Union and Rock Plc and Livestock Feeds Plc followed on the chart, rising by four per cent each to close at 52 kobo per share each.University Press Plc, on the other hand, lost the highest, shedding five per cent or 18 kobo to close at N3.42 per share.Okomu Oil and Dangote Flour Plc fell by five per cent each to close at N21.28 and N4.76 per share in that order.
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