The Nigerian stock market continued a downward movement on Thursday as the All-Share Index declined by 0.81 per cent to close at 39,114.73 points amid sustained profit-taking activity.
The market capitalisation, which opened at N20.64tn, fell to N20.47tn, leaving investors with a loss of N167.1bn at the close of the day’s trading.
Of the stocks traded, 25 gained against 20 that declined, while the year-to-date loss of the ASI rose to -2.87 per cent.
While the share price of Seplat Petroleum Development Company rose by 9.9 per cent, it was however neutralised by sell pressure on bellwethers such as Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria Communications and Lafarge Africa, which share prices fell by 4.65 per cent, 2.49 per cent and 0.47 per cent respectively.
Sectoral performance was positive as all the indices tracked closed in green zone, except for the industrial index which fell by 1.19 per cent.
The banking, insurance, consumer goods and oil and gas indices rose by 1.55 per cent, 0.13 per cent, 0.34 per cent and 6.48 per cent respectively.
Trading activity was positive as total deals, volume and value of stocks traded rose.
At the close of the day’s trading session, the total volume of stocks rose by 36.98 per cent to 356.97 million units, valued at N4.42bn in 3,932 deals.
