By CHINEDU IBEABUCHI

The value of listed equities on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, NSE depreciated by N101 billion last week.

This was occasioned by a significant fall in share prices of highly capitalised equities.

Specifically, the key market indicators represented by the market capitalisation and the All-Share Index both dropped by 1.18 per cent each.

The market capitalisation which opened at N8.565 trillion shed N101 billion to close at N8.464 trillion; while the All-Share Index fell by 316.52 basis points to close at 26,559.55 points from 26,876.07 points.

Fifty-one companies lost in share prices compared to twenty one stocks that gained in the week under review compared to twenty-two stocks that gained and thirty-nine stocks that lost in share prices in penultimate week.

Nestle Nigeria Plc led on the losers’ table with a loss of N25.50 to close at N670.00 per share; followed by Nigeria Breweries Plc shedding N6.45 to close at N128.55 per share and Cadbury Nigeria Plc lost N2.35 to close at N27.00 per share.

Other share price losers in the top ten category include: Julius Berger Nigeria Plc N1.55, MRS Oil Nigeria Plc N1.53, Cap Plc N1.16, Conoil Plc 1.03, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc N0.57, U A C N Plc N0.54 and Honeywell Flour Mill Plc N0.53, among others.

On the contrary, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc led on the gainers’ table appreciating by N2.89 per share to close at N41.89 per share; followed by UACN Property Development Company Plc gaining N1.09 to close at N12.50 per share and Ashaka Cement Plc rose by N1.07 to close at N18.13 per share.

Other share price gainers in the ten top category include: Portland Paints and products Plc N049, Okomu Oil Palm Plc N0.49, Guinness Nigeria Plc N0.41, Berger Paints Plc N0.40, Union Bank Nigeria Plc N0.28, Zenith Bank Plc N0.27 and Cutix Plc N0.23, among others.

Equity trading recorded a significant improvement, appreciating by 90.4 per cent, with a turnover of 1.512 billion shares valued at N12.95 billion in 23,039 deals compared to 794.043 million shares valued at N8.515 billion in 14,048 deals transacted in penultimate week.