NSE: Major indicator slips by 0.20%

Stories by Chinwendu Obienyi

Amidst positive forecast made by capital market analysts for 2018, trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE) yesterday went southward as the All Share Index (ASI) fell by 0.20 per cent.
The broad index shed 77.51 points to close at 38,187.28 points from 38,264.79 points while equity capitalization shed N28 billion to close at N13.59 trillion from N13.62 trillion recorded on Tuesday.
Market breadth, however, was positive as 37 stocks advanced in their prices while 11 others declined.
Diamond Bank topped the gainers’ chart with 9.55 per cent to close at N1.72 per share. FCMB was next, adding 9.49 per cent to close at N1.73, Fidelity Bank followed, garnering 8.53 per cent to close at N2.80, Wema Bank added 8.00 per cent to close at 0.54 kobo while Dangote Sugar notched up by 7.42 per cent to close at N21.87 per share.
On the flipside, Mobil led the losers, declining by 9.15 per cent to close at N176.80 per share. Neimeth trailed, losing 8.00 per cent to close at 0.69 kobo, Cutix Plc fell by 4.98 per cent to close by N1.91, Cadbury lost 4.17 per cent to close at N14.95 while May&Baker depreciated by 3.47 to close at N2.50 per share.
Further analysis of yesterday’s transactions showed that Skye bank was the most active stock, exchanging over 190.02 million units of shares worth N101.73 million, Transcorp followed with a sale of 93.42 million shares valued at N144.62 million, Diamond Bank traded 79.38 million units worth N136.32 million while FCMB followed with an account of 61.15 million units worth N105.49 million.
Despite the drop in indices, the volume of shares traded closed with a turnover of 589.58 million shares valued at N2.12 billion in 4,366 deals compared with the total of 248.55 million shares worth N1.78 billion traded in 3,035 deals in the previous trading session.