Top rated companies shed prices at Stock Exchange

Some major blue chips on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday recorded price depreciation as a result of profit taking by investors. Dangote Cement topped the price losers’ chart, dropping N3 to close at N180 per share. AirService and Unity Bank went down by 8k each to close at N2.11 and 83k per share, respectively.

Cutix and UBA also dipped by 7k each to close at N1.65 and N4.53 per share, respectively. The All-Share Index lost 1.78 points or 0.01 per cent to close at 27,810.28 against 27,812.06 recorded on Monday. Also, the market capitalisation dipped by N1 billion or 0.01 per cent to close at N9.551 trillion from the N9.552 trillion achieved on Monday.

Seplat led the gainers’ table with a gain of N25.11 to close at N270.11 per share. Forte Oil followed with a gain of N8.1 to close at N170.1, while Lafarge Wapco grew by N2 to close at N58 per share. Total Oil also gained N1 to close at N242, while International Breweries appreciated by 68k to close at N19.68 per share. In all, investors staked N2.93 billion on 182.25 million shares in 3,113 deals.

The volume represented 15.69 per cent decrease from the 216.17 million shares worth N2.83 billion traded in 3,316 deals on Monday. The financial services sector remained the investors’ delight as Access Bank emerged the most active equity with 51.47 million shares worth N642.64 million. FBN Holdings came second with 48.92 million shares valued at N301.49 million, while GTBank exchanged 34.80 million shares worth N706.40 million.