ASI falls after two-day gains

After two days of successive record of appreciation last week, the Nigerian Stock Exchanges All Share Index fell at the close of activities on Wednesday, the first working day of this week. Dropping by 0.19 per cent, the ASI lost 40.9 basis points to close at 20,491.51 points, after opening at 20,532.41 points.The market capitalisation of listed equities also declined by N13bn or 0.19 per cent, to close at N6.503tn.To forestall continued fall in the prices of equities on the Exchange, analysts and stakeholders had, last week, urged the management and regulators of the NSE to come up with products and ideas that would allow non-quoted firms to get listed on the Exchange with ease.Speaking in a similar vein, the Chairman, Juli Pharmaceutical Plc, Mr. Julius Adeluyi, on the occasion of the firms 25th anniversary in Lagos on Wednesday, said relevance should be given to indigenous companies.He stressed that the Exchange would make considerable progress when more companies become listed on it, adding that if NSE was going to enjoy relevance, consolidation, stability and better prospect, it must get the participation and corporation of indigenous firms and others not currently listed.Meanwhile, three major market indicators suffered marginal depreciation, just as two others appreciated at the end of trading on Wednesday.The NSE Oil/Gas and NSE Insurance indices appreciated by 3.4 and 1.51 basis points to close at 241.14 and 153.44 points, respectivelyThose that lost at the close of activities included NSE-30, NSE Food/Beverage and NSE Banking, which declined by 1.26, 2.24 and 2.07 basis points to close at 913.73, 616.53 and 293.99 points, respectively.The banking sub-sector took the lead on the activity chart, recording high volume. Investors in the sub-sector exchanged 152.945 million shares valued at N1.498bn in 2,311 transactions. The volume traded in the banking sub-sector accounted for 63.58 per cent of turnover.Activities on the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, and United Bank for Africa Plc drove turnover in the banking sub-sector. In all, 12 stocks recorded price appreciation, while 22 recorded losses.Oando Plc led the price gainers, moving up by five per cent or 1.28k to close at N26.88 per share.Wema Bank Plc, on the other hand, led the price losers, as it shed five per cent or 0.03k to close at 0.57 per share.In all, investors at the close of trading exchanged 240.521 million shares valued at N2.429bn in 4,355 transactions
Click here to read full news..