Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) maintained the negative trend on Tuesday with the market capitalisation dropping to N8 trillion mark amid massive profit taking by investors.

The market capitalisation shed N109 billion to close at N8.953 trillion against N9.062 trillion recorded on Monday.

Similarly, the All-Share Index lost 315.25 points or 1.19 per cent to close lower at 26,034.93 compared with 26,350.18 achieved on Monday following price loses.

An analysis of the price movement table indicated that Nigerian Breweries led the losers’ pack with a loss of N4.22 to close at N102.02 per share.

PZ Industries trailed with a loss of N1.08 to close at N21.13, while Ashaka Cement dropped 96k to close at N24.24 per share.

Cadbury declined by 81k to close at N15.49, while GTBank dipped by 65k to close at N17.25 per share.

Conversely, Portland Paints and Products led the gainers’ table, increasing by 19k to close at N4.13 per share.

Champion Breweries gained 16k to close at N3.38, while Eterna Oil increased by 8k to close at N1.05 per share.

May & Baker grew by 5k to close at N1.05, while Trans Express went up by 4k to close at N1.15 per share.

The volume of shares traded increased by 74.96 per cent as a total of 223.39 million shares worth N2.51 billion were traded in 2,776 deals on Tuesday.

This was against the 127.68 million shares valued at N1.37 billion traded in 2,474 deals on Monday.

Further analysis showed that GT Bank recorded the highest volume, exchanging 91.62 million shares worth N1.65 billion in 299 deals.

FBN Holdings followed with 20.97 million shares valued at N88.43 million achieved in 306 deals, while UBA Africa sold 17.94 million shares worth N53.32 million in 191 deals.

Diamond Bank exchanged 12.76 million shares valued at N25.63 million in 40 deals, while AIICO Insurance sold 10.03 million shares worth N9.09 million in 18 deals. (NAN)

•Photo shows trading floor of the Stock Exchange.

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