By MICHAEL EBOH & PROVIDENCE OBUH

Driven by uncertainty in the global financial community the value of listed equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, represented by the market capitalization, depreciated by N137.40 billion.

Specifically, the capitalization dipped by 1.80 per cent to close at N7.484 trillion from N7.621trillion at which it opened the week.

Another key performance indicator, the All-share index dipped by 1.80 per cent or 429.55 basis points to close at 23,397.44 points from 23,826.99 points at which it opened.

The uncertainty in the market was brought about by the debt crisis in the United States. The U.S. Senate voted last week to settle the political battle over the country’s growing debt, passing a bill that will cut spending and raise the nation’s borrowing limit.

Senators voted 74 to 26 in favor of the compromise measure, sending it to President Barack Obama less than 12 hours before the government ran out of money.

This development, coupled with the persistent bearish mode of the Nigerian capital market, led to sell-offs which brought significant decline in the prices of majority of the listed equities.

Oando Plc led 58 other stocks on the price losers’ table, dropping by N3.13 or 7.73 to close at N37.37 per share, Cadbury Nigeria Plc followed with a loss of N1.75 or 8.8 per cent to close at N18.20 per share and First Bank of Nigeria Plc N1.26, or 10.13 per cent to close at N11.18 per share.

Other share price losers include: Zenith Bank Plc N1.21, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc N1.15,

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc N1.08, Ecobank Transnational Incorporation Plc N1.02, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc N1.00, Forte Oil Plc N0.96, Chemical & Allied Products Plc N0.90, among others.

Guinness Nigeria Plc led on the gainers’ table with a gain of N9.15 or 4 per cent to close at N240.00 per share, Total Nigeria Plc followed with a gain of N7.82 or 4.00 per cent to close at N203.32 per share and Nigerian Breweries Plc garnered N2.80 or 3.10 per cent to close at N93.00 per share.

Other share price gainers include: Flour Mills Nigeria Plc N1.00, Eterna Oil & Gas Plc N0.80, UACN Property Development Company Plc N0.59, Berger Paints Plc N0.54,

Ashaka Cement Plc N0.50, Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc N0.49, Okomu Oil Palm Plc N0.49, among others.

The declining trend continued in equity trading, as the volume of shares traded plunged by 11.22 per cent. A turnover of 1.385 million shares valued at N9.978 billion was recorded in 23,728 deals, in the week under review, compared to the previous week’s turnover of 1.560 million shares valued at N8.934 billion in 24,312 deals.

The Banking sub-sector was the most active on the sectorial analysis accounting for 64.40 per cent of the market turnover with 892.91 million shares valued at N6.695 billion in 13,759 deals. Zenith Bank Plc enjoyed the highest patronage in the sub-sector trading 149.74 million shares valued at N2.18 billion in 1,403 deals.