The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday lost N203 billion, a billion US dollars, reversing the positive trend recorded on Tuesday.

The market capitalisation which opened at N11.421 trillion dropped by 1.78 per cent to close at N11.218 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index lost 593.40 points to close at 32,863.43 against 33,456.83 achieved on Tuesday as a result of price losses.

An analysis of the price movement chart indicated that Dangote Cement recorded the highest price loss, dropping by N8 to close at N172 per share. Nestle Nigeria trailed with a loss of N7 to close at N850, while Mobil Oil dipped N5 to close at N150 per share.

Guinness Nigeria depreciated by N2.53 to close at N160.28 and Unilever lost N1.53 to close at N44 per share.

Market analysts attributed the development to profit taking embarked upon by investors to take advantage of gains recorded by the market in the past few days.

On the other hand, 7UP led the gainers’ chart, growing by N6.90 to close at N186 per share. Lafarge Africa followed with a gain of N1.01 to close at N103, while Presco appreciated by N1 to close at N36 per share.

Beta Glass increased by 50k to close at N36, while International Breweries grew by 49k to close at N19.50 per share.

Access Bank drove the activity chart, accounting for 71.44 million shares worth N389.41 million. Zenith Bank came second with a total of 63.63 million shares valued N1.23 billion, while UBA sold 38.16 million shares worth N188.05 million.
Also, investors staked N683.93 million on 25.35 million shares of GTBank and Diamond Bank traded 16.99 million shares valued N73.33 million.

In all, a total of 323.56 million shares worth N4.73 billion were exchanged in 4,090 deals, representing an increase of 20.48 per cent. This was in contrast with 268.57 million shares valued N4.29 billion traded in 4,808 deals on Tuesday.