Profit taking by investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange dragged market capitalisation down by N174billion, as major highly capitalised stocks depreciated at the end of yesterday’s transactions.

Specifically, the All-share index dropped by 1.1 per cent to close at 42.843.38 from 43,330.52 achieved on Wednesday.

Similarly, market capitalisation of listed equities depreciated by N174billion from N15.549trillion to N15.374trillion.
Analysts attributed the drop in indices to profit taking embarked upon by investors, who want to leverage the capital appreciation recorded on the past few days to recoup their investment.

Seplat topped the gainers’ chart with 14.50 kobo to close at N675.00 per share, while National Salt Company of Nigeria followed with 0.95 kobo to close at N22.95 per share.

International Breweries added 0.65 kobo to close at N57.65 per share. Unilever gained 0.35 kobo to close at N51.55 per share. Union Bank appreciated by 0.25 kobo to close at N6.75 per share.

Nigerian Breweries emerged the day’s highest price loser with 4.90 kobo to close at N131.00 per share. Dangote Cement followed 4.90 kobo to close at N264.90 per share.

WAPCO lost 1.80 kobo to close at N50.10 per share. Guaranty Trust Bank shed 1.00 kobo to close at N48.00 per share. Total dropped 1.00 kobo to close at N231.00 per share.

TransNational Corporation was the toast for investors yesterday with 40.3 million shares worth N80million, Zenith Bank followed with 40 million units valued at N1.2billion. Guaranty Trust Bank exchanged 31 million units valued at N1.5million.

WAPIC traded 30 million shares worth N19million. Royal Exchange accounted for 29 million shares worth N9.5million.

On the whole, investors exchanged 371 million shares worth N4.9billion in 4,570 deals, down from 571 million units valued at N10.8billion exchanged in 5,142 deals on Wednesday