NSE transactions maintain negative slide

The lull on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on Tuesday as investors embarked on cautious trading with the All-Share Index dropping by 0.03 per cent.

It was reported that the index, which opened at 25,273.03 shed 6.88 points or 0.03 per cent to close at 25,266.15.

In the same vein, the market capitalisation lost two billion or 0.02 per cent to close at N8.742 trillion compared with N8.744 trillion recorded on Monday.

It was reported that major blue chips posted price depreciation with Forte Oil leading the laggards’ table with a loss of N2.80 to close at N45 per share.

Seplat trailed with a loss of N1 to close at N395 and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated was down by 26k to close at N8.44 per share.

Dangote Sugar Refinery depreciated by 16k to close at N7 and Nigerian Breweries shed 15k too close at N125 per share.

On the other hand, CAP led the gainers’ table for the day, growing by N3.03 to close at N32.64 per share.

Okomuoil Palm followed with a gain of N2.50 to close at N52.51, while Betaglass appreciated by N2.12 to N46.40 per share.

NASCON chalked up 80k to close at N8.62 and UACN advanced by 79k to close at N15.12 per share.

In spite of the drop in market indices, the volume of shares traded closed higher as investors bought and sold 180.22 million shares valued at N1.62 billion achieved in 2,917 deals.

This was against the 97.69 million shares worth N682. 76 million traded in 2,634 deals on Monday.

GlaxosmithKline was investors delight, trading 24.28 million shares worth N351.42 milion.

Flour Mills followed with an exchange of 21.56 milliom shares valued at N351.42 million and Access Bank traded 17.17 million shares worth N107.49 million.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) exchanged 12.71 million shares valued at N66.14 million and Fidelity Bank sold 9.08 million shares worth N7.24 million.