By Nse Anthony-Uko
(Sundiata Finance) — Profit taking by investors on the Nigerian stocks market continued on Wednesday with a loss of N9 billion.
Overall, the All Share Index (ASI) shed 28.09 absolute points, representing a decline of 0.08 per cent to close at 36,641.52 points.
Similarly, the market capitalisation shed N9 billion, to close at N12.613 trillion.
The downturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Total, Flourmill, Nascon, Access Bank and Nahco.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited attributed yesterday’s negative close to profit taking on recent gains in the equities market. They however said, “We expect an upturn in following sessions due to third quarter, 2017 earnings releases.”
Market breadth was negative, with 13 gainers versus 21 losers. Glaxosmith recorded the highest price gain of 4.99 per cent, to close at N23.15 per share. Custodian Reinsurance followed with a gain of 4.86 per cent, to close at N3.65, while learn Africa appreciated by 3.95 per cent to close at 75 kobo per share.
Jaiz Bank rose by 2.94 per cent to close at 70 kobo, while ETI gained 2.21 per cent to close at N17.59 per share.
On the other hand, Nahco led the losers’ chart by 5.56 per cent, to close at N3.40 per share. Law Union Insurance followed a decline of 4.94 per cent to close at 77 kobo, while Caverton depreciated by 4.76 per cent to close at N1.20 per share. Transcorp declined by 4.73 percent each, to close at N1.41 and Nascon shed 4.69 per cent to close at N13..20 per share.
Also, the total volume traded depreciated by 6.25 per cent to 198.63 million shares, worth N2.94 billion, and traded in 3,543 deals. Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chart with 37.1 million shares valued at N1.55 billion.
Sterling Bank followed with 26.9 million shares worth N26.89 million, while Access Bank traded 20.54 million shares valued at N198.46 million. Fidelity Bank traded 19.74 million shares valued at N29.22 million, while Zenith Bank sold 13.6 million shares worth N358.96 million.
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