By Thompson ABISOLA
Trading returned to the negative territory on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday with market indicators declining by 0.60 per cent due to losses by some oil majors.
TBI Africa reports that the market capitalisation lost N82 billion or 0.60 per cent to close at N13.555 trillion against N13.637 trillion posted on Monday.
Also, the All-Share Index dipped 225.09 points or 0.60 per cent to close at 37,422.84 compared with 37,647.93 achieved on Monday.
Seplat recorded the highest loss to lead the losers’ table, shedding N15 to close at N635 per share.
Total trailed with a loss of N10 to close at N200, while Lafarge Africa shed N2.25 to close at N35.75 per share.
Guaranty Trust Bank lost N1.40 to close at N40.10, while Nigerian Breweries dropped N1.10 to close at N110 per share.
Conversely, Forte Oil led the gainers’ table during the day, gaining N2.70 to close at N29.85 per share.
Custodian and Allied Insurance followed with a gain of 40k to close at N5.70, while Ecobank appreciated by 20k to close at N20.60 per share.
Unilever added 15k to close at N51.70, while Access Bank increased by 10k to close at N10.50 per share.
In spite of the drop in indices, the volume of shares transacted increased by 37.39 per cent, while the value of shares transacted rose by 88.94 per cent.
Specifically, investors transacted 213.20 million shares valued at N3.76 billion traded in 4,043 deals.
This was against the 155.17 million shares worth N1.99 billion traded in 3,422 deals on Monday.
Zenith International Bank was the most active stock during the day, trading 39.93 million shares worth N965.09 million.
FBN Holdings followed with 21.69 million shares valued at N227.22 million, while Transcorp traded 21.69 million shares worth N26.97 million.
Guaranty Trust Bank sold 15.81 million shares valued at N650.66 million, while Sovereign Trust Insurance exchanged 13.74 million shares worth N3.44 million.
