March 20, 2018

The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday depreciated further by N57 billion in spite of N10.50 per share dividend declared by Dangote Cement.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the market capitalisation, which opened at N14.969 trillion, dipped N57 billion or 0.38 per cent to close at N14.912 trillion.

In the same vein, the All-Share Index lost 159.54 points or 0.38 per cent to close at 41,686.36, compared to 41,845.90 recorded on Monday.

NAN reports that Seplat recorded the highest loss, leading the losers’ table with N38 to close at N722 per share.

Lafarge Africa trailed with a loss of N2.65 to close at N50.35, while Cadbury shed 1.45 to close at N14 per share.

Nigerian Breweries dropped by N1.30 to close at N127.20, while Stanbic IBTC went down by 85k to close at N48.15 per share.

Conversely, Total Plc led the gainers’ table for the day, gaining N11.60 to close at N243.70 per share.

Unilever followed with a gain of N2.65 to close at N55.65, while NASCO Allied industries gained 65k to close at N20 per share.

FBN Holdings gained 30k to close at N12, while Eterna Oil appreciated by 28k to close at N5.98 per share.

Fidson Healthcare was the toast of investors, accounting for 85.13 million shares worth N424.80 million.

Africa Insurance followed with a turnover of 40.10 million shares valued at N10.03 million, while FBN Holdings sold 34.89 million shares worth N420.18 million.

Zenith Bank traded 24.14 million shares valued at N6.12. 28 million, while Multitrex exchanged 20.02 million shares worth N8.21 million.

In all, the volume of shares traded rose by 24.85 per cent with an exchange of 409.21 million shares valued at N3.92 billion in 4,996 deals.

This was in contrast with 327.76 million shares worth N5.26 billion transacted in 5,366 deals on Monday.