The Nigerian Stock market on Thursday, for the first time in the week closed lower halting 3 days consecutive gains with the All-Share Index dropping by 0.08 per cent due to profit taking.
The ASI, though touched an intraday high at 45,162.64, also trended as low as 44,188, to finally close at 44,848.74 points as against the 44,885.24 points it closed on Wednesday.
The market capitalisation which opened at N16.080 trillion also lost N13 billion which represent 0.08 percent decline to close at N16.067 trillion.
The is however traceable some major highly capitalised equity that recorded price loss, which includes Nigerian Breweries, shedding N4.05 to close at N142 per share, Stanbic lost N1.19 to close at 45.01 and Zenith, losing 20 kobo to close at N32.30.
In volume and deals, the transaction recorded was higher than the previous, as the number of shares traded closed higher with 1.34 billion against 960.75 million shares, which exchanged hands in 11,355 against 8,866 deals in the comparative periods. The aggregate value however dropped from N12.52 billion recorded on Wednesday to about N10.52 billion recorded on Thursday.
Market Breadth
The market performance as measured by the market breadth stood negative, as the number of losers which was 31 outweighs that of the gainers which stood at 27.
Percentage gainers(27)
CCNN led the percentage gainers with 10.16% appreciation, gaining N1.64 to close at N17.78, while FCMB Holdings gained 33k to close at N3.61 per share, advancing 10.06% in price value.
Caverton also added 19k to close at N2.12, 9.843% away from the previous close, while Diamond Bank advanced 9.81% higher.
Percentage losers(31)
On the other side are Fidson with 9.20% loss, Nascon lost 7.24%, Glaxosmith lost 5% and Presco among the rest lost 4.99%.
Best Stocks
Although, Transcorp traded the highest volume at 211.31 million shares worth N553.61 million in 847 deals, FBNH attracted more attention in terms deals and value, emerging as the stock of the day. It exchanged 141.04 million units of shares value at N2.12 billion in 1,335 deals, frequenting and standing at an advantaged rank on our performance metric list.