Major blue chips shed prices on NSE

Some blue chips recorded price losses on Thursday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) forcing the market to close on negative note.

Our correspondent reports that 7UP recorded the highest price loss of N5.24 to close at N99.66 per share.

Okomu Oil trailed with a loss of N2.49 to close at N47.39, while Dangote Cement dipped by N1 to close at N159 per share.

UACN was down by 50k to close at N14.10, while ETI declined by 38k to close at N7.38 per share.

Consequently, the market capitalisation, which opened at N8.765 trillion, dipped by N17 billion or 0.19 per cent to close at N8.748 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index closed lower at 25,282.75 from the 25,331.77 achieved on Wednesday, a loss of 49.02 points or 0.19 per cent.

Seplat led the price gainers’ table for the day, increasing by N5 to close at N405 per share.

Nigerian Breweries followed with a gain of N1 to close at N124, while Stanbic IBTC gained 49k to close at N19.50 per share.

Nestle improved by 30k to close at N750, while Africa Prudential appreciated by 12k to close at N2.53 per share.

Our correspondent reports that the volume of shares traded dropped by 54.11 per cent as investors exchanged 147.89 million shares valued at N836.84 million in 2,578 deals.

This is in contrast to the 322.29 million shares worth N1.53 billion traded by investors in 2,907 deals on Wednesday.

Transcorp was the toast of investors, exchanging 28.07 million shares worth N25.67 million.

Diamond Bank followed with 24.98 million shares valued at N21.78 million, while FCMB Group traded 13.80 million shares for N13.79 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank sold 12.23 million shares valued at N302.03 million, while UBA exchanged 9.87 million shares for N51.15million.