Equities fell for the fourth straight session this week on Thursday as investors continued to give in to selling pressure.
With the exception of the NSE Alternative Securities Market Index, which was unchanged at 1,213.36 basis points, all the NSE indicators declined as investors continued to dump their shares to conserve value.
The NSE All-Share Index, for instance, fell by 2.4 per cent or 747 basis points to close at 30,420.54 basis points, compared to the 4.17 per cent depreciation it recorded a day earlier.
Also, the market capitalisation of the listed equities shed N247bn or 2.4 per cent to close at N10.071tn. The market capitalisation had been down by N449bn in the previous session.
The NSE 30 Index dropped 35.81 basis points or 2.55 per cent to close at 1,365.50 basis points, while the NSE Lotus Islamic Index fell by 62.01 basis points or three per cent to 1,999.35 basis points.
Of the five sectoral indices, the NSE Banking Index was the worst hit, no thanks to losses made by Access Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. The index fell by 3.54 per cent or 10.96 basis points to 298.87 basis points.
The NSE Oil and Gas Index lost 2.78 per cent or 10.24 basis points to close at 358.10 basis points, while the NSE Consumer Goods Index declined by 19.22 basis points or 2.36 basis points to 795.20 basis points. Losses by Nestle Nigeria Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc and Seven-Up Bottling Company affected the index.
The NSE Industrial Index was down by 18.77 basis points or 0.95 per cent to 1,950.66 basis points, while the NSE Insurance Index fell by 0.37 basis points or 0.25 per cent to close at 146.33 basis points.
Investors spent N4.415bn on 454.017 million shares in 4,860 deals on Thursday with 12 stocks recording price appreciation, while 34 shares recorded price depreciation.
The gainers were led by Livestock Feeds Plc and Cutix Plc, which gained 4.88 per cent and 4.84 per cent to close at N2.15 and N1.30 per share, respectively.
The losers on the other hand, were led by Access Bank Plc with a 9.58 per cent or 55 kobo share price depreciation that caused it to close at N5.19 per share.
FCMB Group Plc lost 9.46 per cent or 21 kobo to close at N2.01 per share, while Guinness Nigeria Plc fell by 9.33 per cent or N13.22 to close at N128.52 per share.
Oando Plc declined by 7.06 per cent or N1.14 to close at N15.01 per share, while Nestle Nigeria and Fidelity Bank Plc shed five per cent each to close at N898.53 and N1.52 per share, respectively.
Also among highly capitalised stocks that fell on Thursday were Zenith Bank Plc and Dangote Cement Plc. Zenith shed 2.85 per cent or 44 kobo to close at N15 per share, while Dangote Cement was down by 2.61 per cent or N4.48 to close at N167 per share.
