Profit-taking: NSE All-Share Index drops further by 0.26%

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index closed for the week on Thursday ahead of Eid-el-Fitr celebration with a loss of 0.26 per cent.

Our correspondent reports that the index shed 103.25 points or 0.26 per cent to close at 38,928.47 against 39,031.72 achieved on Wednesday.

The market capitalisation which opened at N14.139 trillion, lost N38 billion or 0.27 per cent to close at N14.101 trillion against N14.139 trillion posted on Wednesday.

Some highly capitalised stocks posted price depreciation with Seplat leading the laggards’ table with N14.10 to close at N754.90 per share.

Nigerian Breweries trailed with a loss of N5 to close at N110, while Presco dropped N1.70 to close at N72 per share.

International Breweries declined by 45k to close at N41.30, while Zenith International Bank was down by 35k to close at N26.40 per share.

On the other hand, Okomu Oil Palm led the gainers’ table during the day, appreciating by N8.40 to close at N90.40 per share.

NASCON followed with a gain of 95k to close at N23.95, while Stanbic IBTC increased by 50k to close at N49 per share.

Dangote Sugar garnered 40k to close at N19.40, while Eterna Oil advanced by 30k to close at N6.30 per share.

Similarly, an analysis of the activity chart indicates that the volume of shares traded dropped by 26.26 per cent as investors bought and sold 336.62 million shares valued at N5.25 billion in 3,667 deals.

This was in contrast to 456.49 million shares worth N4.13 billion transacted in 3,517 deals on Wednesday.

United Capital Plc was the most active stock for the day, trading 101.63 million shares valued at N327.68 million.

United Bank for Africa followed with an account of 66.10 million shares worth N720.79 million, while Diamond Bank traded 20.21 million shares valued at N31.64 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank sold 14.24 million shares worth N587.29 million, while Transcorp exchanged 23.78 million shares valued at N20.48 million.