NSE: trading resumes on bearish note

Weekly transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened on Monday on a bearish note with the major equities recording price losses. The market indices recorded marginal depreciation as a result of the price losses. The All-Share Index lost 54.24 points to close at 35,956.04 against the 36,010.28 points posted on Friday. Also, the market capitalisation, which opened at N11.51 trillion, lost N19 billion or 0.17 per cent to close at N10.49 trillion.

Nestle topped the losers’ chart with a loss of N6.10 to close at N918.90 per share. Total Nigeria trailed with N4.98 to close at N155.02, while Dangote Cement lost N1.80 to close at N178.20 per share. Cadbury dipped by 39k to close at N43.51, while Air Service lost 27k to close at N4.41 per share. Lafarge WAPCO led the gainers’ table, gaining N6.77 to close at N87 per share. It was followed by Okomu Oil with a gain of N1.31 to close at N107.81, while BOC Gases gained 85k to close at N9.35 per share. International Breweries gained 51k to close at N22.51, while National Salt appreciated by 49k to close at N11.36 per share. Despite the drop in the market indicators, the volume of shares traded grew by 97.17 per cent as a total of 622.51 million shares worth N7.36 billion were traded in 5,531 deals. This was against the 315.73 million shares valued at N4.59 billion traded in 5,881 deals on Friday. FCMB drove the turnover volume, accounting for 147.88 million shares worth N739.33 million. UBA was second on the activity chart with 88.04 million shares valued at N729.99 million, while ETI accounted for 86.40 million shares worth N1.25 billion.