BY PETER EGWUATU

INVESTORS, yesterday, lost N363.5 billion as value of stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange market, (market capitalisation) declined by 2.75 per cent to N9.987 trillion from N10.250 trillion on   Friday. Operators stated that major loses recorded by the banking sub sector contributed significantly to push down market capilisation. The market capitalisation represents the total value of shares traded on the exchange.

In the same vein, another stock market indicators, the All share Index (ASI)fell by the same percentage value as it shed 889.80 points to close 29,929.56 points from 30,719.36 points on Friday.The banking sub sector  index declined by 4.78 per cent;  Industrial stocks sector  shed 3.03 percent, and Consumer Goods sector  dropped by 2.23 per cent. Specifically, the downswing of the banking sector was  attributed to the losses of recorded by  ETI, UBA, GTBank , Sterling Bank, Access Bank, Skye Bank and First Bank Nigeria Holding, FBNH.

ETI dropped by 4.95 per cent to close at N18.05, followed by UBA dropping by 4.84 per cent to close at  N3.93. GT Bank shed 4.00 per cent to close at N24.00, followed by  Sterling Bank with a loss of 2.5 per cent to close at N2.34 per cent, and  Access Bank declined by 1.97 per cent to close at  N5.98.

Other losers include Skye Bank (1.74 per cent to close at N2.26) and FBNH (1.18 per cent to close at, N8.40).The loses recorded by Champion Breweries,  Nigerian Breweries , NB ,  Dangote Sugar, NOSCON  and Guinness Breweries, contributed significantly to depress the Consumer Goods index. Specifically, Champion Breweries nosedived by 5.00 to close at N4.75), NB shed  5.00 per cent to close at N132.05, followed by Dangote Sugar which dipped by 4.92 per cent to close at N5.99. NASCON depreciated 0.46 per cent to close at N6.46 and Guinness dropped by 0.28 per cent to close at 125.68.

The top losers in the Industrial stocks sector were Portland Paints 4.96 per cent which closed at  N3.45 followed by WAPCO which declined by 4.91 per cent to close at  N80.4 and Dangote Cement  shed -1.97 per cent to close at N150.   Activity was nothing to write home about as turnover amounted to a paltry N1.83 billion.   A few notable trades of the day were the deals consummated on; GT Bank: N287 million ; Access Bank  N196 Million, Zenith Bank N157 million, NB N136 million  and WAPCO N133 million.