The market indices of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday recorded further depreciation due to huge losses recorded by some blue chips. The All-Share Index dropped by 96.95 points or 0.49 per cent to close at 19,732.34 against the 19,829.29 posted on Wednesday. Also, the market capitalisation dropped to close at N6.235 trillion from the previous N6.240 trillion. Guinness topped the price losers’ chart, dropping N1.75 to close at N213.50 per share and was trailed by GlaxoSmithKline which lost N1.24 to close at N23.65 per share. UAC Property lost 0.64k to close at N12.16 per share, Cadbury dipped by 0.55k to close at N10.50 per share while Nigerian Breweries depreciated by 0.54k to close at N93.50 per share.
The NAHCO led the gainers’ chart with a gain of 0.23k to close at N5.08 per share and was followed by FCMB which gained 0.18k to close at N3.96 per share. ETI chalked up 0.15k to close at N10.15 per share, UBA appreciated by 8k to close at N2.35 per share while RT Briscoe gained 6k to close at N1.28 per share. The banking sector remained the most active with a total of N146.1 million shares worth N1.1 billion traded in 1,795 deals. Insurance sub-sector came second with 37.2 million shares worth N23.8 million exchanged in 188 deals. In all, a total of 208.6 million shares worth N1.6 million were exchanged in 3,363 deals on Thursday against the 227.4 million shares worth N1.1 billion traded in 3,059 deals on Wednesday.