Business activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE) closed bearish for the 3rd consecutive day as market capitalization depreciated further by N22 billion.
The All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 39.78 basis points, representing a decline of 0.10 percent to close at 42,000.01 points as against 42,043.79 points recorded on Tuesday.
Also, the overall market capitalization lost N22 billion to close at N21.970 trillion lower than the N21.994 trillion of the previous day.
The downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capital stocks, including Nigerian Breweries, Lafarge Africa, Ardova, BOC Gases, and Zenith Bank.
Analysts at Afrinvest had earlier said: “We expect the trend in corporate releases to shape performance this week.”
Market sentiment was negative, as 27 stocks declined, relative to 19 gainers. NCR Corporation recorded the highest price gain of 9.94 percent to close at N3.34 kobo.
CHI Plc followed with a gain of 9.52 percent to close at N0.46, while Prestige Assurance Plc rose 9.90 percent to close at N0.48 kobo.
On the other hand, Linkage Assurance led the losers’ chart by 9.88 percent to close at N0.73 kobo per share.
Champion Breweries followed with fell 9.84 percent to close at N3.39, and Regal Insurance Plc shed 9.38 percent.
Also, the total volume of trades stood at to 504.83 million units valued at N5.31 billion in 5,887 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) topped the activity chart with 75.550 million shares valued at N434.420 million.
Guaranty Trust Bank Plc followed with 60.667 million shares worth N2.010 million, while FCMB traded 50.404 million shares at N173.546 million.
