NSE Index Drops Further Ahead Of Yuletide

The All-Share Index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) dropped further by 1.56 per cent on Thursday following profit taking embarked by investors ahead of Yuletide.

The index shed 600.94 points or 1.56 per cent to close at 37,933.70 against 38,534.64 posted on Wednesday.

The decline was as a result of loses posted by some highly capitalised equities.

Dangote Cement topped the losers’ chart with N9.88 to close at N230 per share.

Flour Mills trailed with a loss of N3.32 to close at N30.87, while Lafarge Africa lost N1 to close at N44 per share.

National Salt declined by 69k to close at N19.31, while Nigerian Breweries dipped 65k to close at N139 per share.

However, market capitalisation rose by N77 billion or 0.57 per cent to close at N13.497 trillion compared with N13.420 trillion achieved on Wednesday.

Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer of InvestData Ltd., attributed the growth by market capitalisation to listing of International Breweries merger scheme of about N5.2 billion.

Conversely, Seplat recorded the highest gain to lead the gainers’ table with N38.74 to close at N540.05 per share.

Nestle garnered N1.55 to close at N1454.05, while Julius Berger improved by N1 to close at N28 per share.

Unilever rose by 40k to close at N40.70, while GT Bank inched 10k to close at N40 per share.

The volume of shares traded closed lower with a turnover of 289.30 million shares worth N6.22 billion transacted in 4,617 deals.

This was in contrast with 323.95 million shares valued at N4.40 billion traded in 5,168 deals on Wednesday.

FBN Holdings was the most active with a total of 39.97 million shares worth N357.14 million.

FCMB Group came second with 33.14 million shares valued at N43.09 million, while Zenith International traded 29.43 million shares worth N729.16 million.

Fidelity Bank sold 25.54 million shares valued at N60.75 million, Diamond Bank accounted for 25.54 million shares worth N37.34 million.