NSE: Trading sways southward, down by 0.14%

The Nigerian bourse swayed southward on Thursday dropping marginally by 0.14 per cent, amid profit taking ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

Specifically, the All-Share Index lost 45.40 points or 0.14 per cent to close at 32,568.65 compared with 32,614.05 recorded on Wednesday.

Similarly, the market capitalisation which opened at N12.162 trillion lost N17 billion or 0.14 per cent to close at N12.145 trillion.

International Breweries topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N2.75 to close at N26.25 per share.

Zenith International Bank trailed with a loss of 50k to close at N25.30, while PZ Cussons declined by 30k to close at N12.35 per share.

Dangote Flour dropped 25k to close at N9.70, while UACN depreciated by 20k to close at N8.80 per share.

On the other hand, Dangote Cement led the gainers’ table with a gain of 60k to close at N193 per share.

GlaxosmithKline came second with 45k to close at N12, while Fidson Healthcare gained 25k to close at N4.95 per share.

Ecobank Transnational added 25k to close at N6.50 per share.

Our correspondent also reports that the volume of shares traded closed lower as investors bought and sold 220.61 million shares worth N2.24 billion in 4,327 deals.

This was against a turnover of 443.78 million shares valued at N5.64 billion transacted in 4,697 deals on Wednesday.

Transcorp was the most active stock during the day, exchanging 24.73 million shares worth N36.16 million.

FCMB Group followed with an account of 19.22 million shares valued at N43.89 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 16.53 million shares worth N630.23 million.

Zenith Bank sold 15.67 million shares worth N402.21 million, while Access Bank traded 14.29 million shares valued at N91.01 million.