By MICHAEL EBOH
A declining trend was recorded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, last week, as the value of listed equities dipped by N66.958 billion.

Equities’ value, represented by the market capitalization, dipped by 1.03 per cent to close the week at N6.433 trillion from N6.499 trillion at which it opened. The All-share index also depreciated by 1.03 per cent or 212.46 basis points to close at 20,411.17 points from 20,623.63 points.

Total Nigeria Plc led 34 other companies in the price losers’ category in the week under review, dropping by N18.52 or 9.7 per cent to close at N171.48 per share, Dangote Cement Plc followed with a loss of N5.80 or five per cent to close at N110.20 per share and Nestle Nigeria Plc dipped by N5.65 to close at N441 per share.

Other share price losers include: Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc N4.00, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc N3.64, Unilever Nigeria Plc N2.35, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc N1.58, Lafarge WAPCO Cement Nigeria Plc N1.50, Forte Oil Plc N1.17 and Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc N0.82 among others.

On the contrary, Nigerian Breweries Plc led 26 other companies in the price gainers’ table, rising by N2.30 to close at N97.70 per share, Access Bank Plc followed with a gain of N0.89 to close at N6.75 per share and Oando Plc garnered N0.86 to close at N18.35 per share.

Other share price gainers include: Eterna Oil & Gas Plc N0.65, First Bank of Nigeria Plc N0.59, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc N0.51, Skye Bank Plc N0.51, Glaxo Smithkline Consumer (Nigeria) Plc N0.43, Guinness Nigeria Plc N0.25, UAC Nigeria Plc N0.24 among others.

Equity trading appreciated by 82.56 per cent in the week under review, as a turnover of 2.45 billion shares valued at N10.003 billion was recorded in 16,760 deals, in contrast to penultimate week’s turnover of 1.342 billion shares valued at N7.01 billion in 15,166 deals.

The Financial Services sector accounted for 2.2 billion shares valued at N6.971 billion traded in 9,860 deals, while the Information and Communication Technology sector followed with for 89.8 million shares valued at N46.724 million traded in 32 deals.