NSE: Dangote Cement, NB drag index down by 1.12%

Nigerian Breweries and Dangote Cement recorded price depreciation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), dragging the indices down by 1.12 per cent. Both companies led the losers’ chart with a loss of N4.90 per share. Specifically, Nigerian Breweries lost N4.90 to close at N131, while Dangote Cement also dipped N4.90 to close at N264.90 per share.

Lafarge Africa dropped N1.80 to close at N50.10, while Total depreciated by N1 to close at N231 per share. Guaranty Trust Bank also declined by N1 to close at N48 per share. Consequently, the All-Share Index, which opened at 43,330.54, shed 487.16 points or 1.12 per cent to close at 42,843.38. Also, the market capitalisation lost N175 billion or 1.13 per cent to close at N15.374 trillion compared with N15.549 trillion on Wednesday.

On the other hand, Seplat, due to improved 2017 earnings released to the market, led the gainers’ table, growing by N14.50 to close at N675 per share. NASCON followed with a gain of 95k to close at N22.95, while International Breweries gained 65k to close at N57.65 per share. Unilever added 35k to close at N51.55, while Union Bank of Nigeria advanced by 25k to close at N6.75 per share.

A breakdown of the activity chart indicated that Transcorp was the most active stock during the day, trading 40.35 million shares worth N80.98 million. Zenith International Bank followed with an account of 40.04 million shares valued at N1.27 billion, while GT Bank traded 31.04 million shares worth N1.51 billion. Wapic Insurance exchanged 30.26 million shares valued at N19.67 million, while Royal Exchange traded 29.74 million shares worth N9.52 million. In all, the volume of shares traded dropped by 35.08 per cent with an exchange of 371.25 million shares valued at N4.87 billion transacted in 4,570 deals. This was in contrast with a total of 571.87 million shares worth N10.80 billion traded in 5,142 deals on Wednesday.