Driven by profit taking activities, the value of listed equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) dipped, Thursday, by N23.08 billion.

In particular, the value of listed equities, represented by the market capitalisation, depreciated by 0.29 per cent to close at N7.807 trillion from N7.830 trillion at which it opened, while the All-share index, another key performance indices, dropped by 72.26 basis points to close at 24,438.78 points from 24,511.04 points.

The decline was brought about by investors wanting to take advantage of the significant improvement recorded in the market indices over the last two days.

This forced down the prices of majority of the blue chip companies, with MRS Oil Nigeria Plc recording the most share price loss, shedding N3.50, representing a drop of five per cent from N70.06 per share to N66.56 per share.

Okomu Oil Palm Plc followed with a loss of N0.69 to close at N13.21 per share, while BOC Gases Plc shed N0.48 to close at N9.20 per share.

On the contrary, Nigerian Bottling Company Plc recorded the most share price gain, rising by 4.98 per cent, with a gain of N1.65 to close at N34.75 per share,

Ashaka Cement Plc followed with a gain of N1.22 to close at N25.72 per share and Unilever Nigeria Plc dipped by N1.15 to close at N24.25 per share.

Other share price gainers include: UAC Nigeria Plc N1.80, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc N0.45, Ocenic Bank International Plc N0.11, Spring Bank Plc N0.04, RT. Briscoe Plc N0.12, Cutix Plc N0.10, Vono Products Plc N0.10 among others.

A slight decline was recorded in equity trading, as a turnover of 253.53 million shares valued at N3.03 billion was recorded in 6,495 deals, in contrast to the previous day’s turnover of 257.45 million shares valued at N2.38 billion in 4,942 deals.