Transactions on the equity sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) sustained sliding profile yesterday, following price losses suffered by most blue chip stocks, resulting to a further slide in market capitalisation by N83 billion.

Yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 230.49 absolute points, representing a loss of 0.61 per cent to close at 37,733.44 points, as the year-to-date loss increased to 1.33 per cent. Similarly, the market capitalisation shed N83 billion to close at N13.669 trillion.

Declining shares of tier 1 bank, Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank and FBN Holdings depressed the NSE Banking Index by 0.72 per cent, which affected the general index of the market.

Analysts at APT Securities Limited noted that stocks within the banking sector are worth consideration for a long position, saying this is with reference to the fact that the bears are currently taking profits within the sector.

Market breadth closed negative, with 16 gainers versus 20 losers. Honeywell Flour recorded the highest price gain of 9.55 per cent, to close at N2.41, while Law Union and Rock Insurance followed with a gain of 9.30 per cent to close at 94 kobo per share.

Aiico Insurance and Lafarge Africa appreciated by five per cent each to close at 63 kobo and N42 respectively, while Regency Alliance Insurance appreciated by 4.17 per cent to close at 25 kobo per share.

On the other hand, Equity Assurance led the losers’ chart by 4.55 per cent, to close at 21 kobo per share. Wema Bank followed with a loss of 4.11 per cent to close at 70 kobo, while Diamond Bank shed 3.52 per cent to close at N1.37 per share.

Prestige Assurance depreciated by 3.51 per cent to close at 55 kobo, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) declined by 3.50 per cent to close at N1.38 per share.

However, the total volume traded went up by 11.47 per cent per cent to 414.93 million shares, worth N4.45 billion, and traded in 3,354 deals. Transactions in the shares of Champion Breweries topped the activity chart with 140.36 million shares valued at N269.5 million. Sterling Bank followed with 47.77 million shares worth N66.42 million, while Zenith Bank traded 26.23 million shares valued at N651.78 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank traded 22.76 million shares valued at N921.56 million, while FBN Holdings transacted 19.56 million shares worth N209.19 million.