The reign of the bears continued on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as major highly capitalised stocks depreciated in prices, causing the All-share index to slide further by 0.4 per cent.

Yesterday, market capitalisation of listed equities fell by N32 billion to N7.723 trillion from N7.755 trillion recorded the previous day.

Also, the All Share Index went down by 94.51 basis points to 22456.32 points from 22550.83 points traded on Monday.

Investors bought 256.439 million shares worth N1.973 billion in 4731 deals against 196.258 million shares cost N1.674 billion in 3248 deals.        
 
An analysis of the investment indicated that Zenith International Bank recorded the highest volume of activities, trading 51.484 million shares worth N471.689 million in 726 deals.

Diamond Bank followed with account of 34.049 million shares valued at N52.415 million in 106 deals, Guaranty Trust Bank traded 19.193 million shares cost N263.643 million in 325 deals.

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) sold a total of 15.955 million shares worth N16.881 million in 88 deals while Fidelity Bank exchanged 13.849 million shares cost N16.685 million in 51 deals.

International Breweries topped the gainers chart with 9.40 per cent to close at N16.30 per share. NEM followed with 8.62 per cent to close at N0.63 per share. Unity Bank added 8.47 per cent to close at N0.64 per cent. UCAP and Zenith gained 6.36 and 6.11 per cent to close at N1.17 and N9.55 per share.

TransNational Corporation gained 6.00 per cent to close at N1.06 per share. UACN added 5.00 per cent to close at N17.22 per share.
African Prudential gained 4.98 per cent to close at N2.11 per share.
Livestock and GlaxoSmith Kline 4.96 and 4.90 per cent to close at N1.27 and N27.00 per share.

On the other hand, Okomu Oil led others on the losers chart with 9.74 per cent to close at N27.99 per share while Guinness followed with 9.61 per cent to close at N93.00 per share. Champion trailed with 8.58 per cent to close at N3.09 per share. Oando and Diamond Bank dropped 7.65 and 6.51 per cent to close at N3.50 and N1.58 per share.

Other losers of yesterday’s transactions include: Cadbury, Mobil and Seplat, shedding 5.06 and 5.00 per cent to close at N12.00, N137.75 and N159.72 per share respectively.

Unilever dropped 4.99 per cent to close at N41.09 per share. Vitafoam shed 4.96 per cent to close at N4.98 per share. Ecobank TransNational Incorporated and Flourmills lost 4.95 per cent to close at N14.59 and N17.85 per share respectively. Union Bank dropped 4.86 per cent to close at N4.70 per share.

Sterling bank lost 4.68 per cent to close at N1.63 per share. First City Monument Bank. Cutix dropped 4.35 per cent to close at N1.32per cent. Nestle shed 3.98 per cent to close at N675.10 per share.

Dangote Sugar Refinery lost 3.88 per cent to close at N5.20 per share.