Trading on Thursday on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange ended on a negative note with losses in the shares of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited, Oando Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and FCMB Group Plc, among others, pushing market capitalisation down by N297bn.
At the close of trading, the market capitalisation fell to N8.336tn from N8.633tn while the All-Share Index depreciated from 25,103 basis points to 24,239.98 basis points.
A total of 262.522 million shares worth N2.409bn were traded in 2,579 deals; of which 31 stocks fell in value while only five appreciated.
The highest index point recorded in the course of trading was 27,028.39 while the lowest and average points were 24,239.98 and 25,751.31, respectively.
Seplat shares closed at N176.96 from N196.07, shedding N19.11 (9.75 per cent) while that of Oando depreciated by N0.45 (9.70 per cent) to close at N4.19 from N4.64.
Guaranty Trust Bank shares fell to N14.81 from N16.39, losing N1.58 (9.64 per cent) while FBN Holdings lost N0.38 (9.52 per cent) to close at N3.61 from N3.99. FCMB shares also posted a loss of N0.12 (8.82 per cent) to close at N1.24 from N1.36.
Appearing after the top-five losers were Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, Unity Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc, PZ Cussons Plc, Eterna Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Nascon Allied Industries Plc, Access bank Plc, Cutix Plc, N.E.M. Insurance Company Nigeria Plc and Law Union and Rock Insurance Plc.
Other losers at the NSE were AIICO Insurance Plc, Skye Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Trans-nationwide Express Plc, United Capital Plc, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, Total Nigeria Plc, Africa Prudential Registrars Plc, Continental Reinsurance Plc, UACN Plc and UAC Properties Plc.
On the gainers charts were Ikeja Hotel Plc, Honeywell Flour Mill Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, A.G. Leventis Nigeria Plc and Custodian and Allied Plc.
