Profit taking takes toll on exchange, indices down by 0.1%

Price losses outweighed gains yesterday on the equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, as most blue chip stocks depreciated in price, causing market indicators to depreciate by 0.1 per cent.

As a result, market capitalisation of the NSE dropped by N14 billion per cent from N13.147 trillion recorded on Wednesday to N13.133 trillion at the close of business yesterday, while the All-share index fell by 41.17 points from 38,144.02 to 38,102.85.

Analysts attributed the decline in indices to profit taking caused by sustained rally witnessed by the market in the last couple of weeks.According to them, investors leveraged the capital appreciation recorded in the last few weeks to recoup their investment.

Further review of transactions showed that 27 stocks depreciated in price, led by Forte Oil with 9.71 per cent to close at N53.76 while Oando followed with 5.00 per cent to close at N7.22 per share.

National Salt Company of Nigeria (NASCON) shed 4.99 per cent to close at N12.57 per share. Morison lost 4.85 per cent to close at N0.98 per share. Dangote Sugar Refinery also shed 4.84 per cent to close at N13.56 per share. Capital Hotel depreciated by 4.83 per cent to close at N3.15 per share. Dangote Flour Mills lost 4.71 per cent to close at N6.67 per share, and Unity Bank shed 4.69 per cent to close at N0.61 per share.Caverton also lost 4.35 per cent to close at N1.10 per share, while 20 others constituted the gainers’ chart.