Thursday, 21 October 2010 By Helen Oji and Femi Adekoya

CONTINUED share price depreciation suffered by many highly capitalised stocks yesterday, prolonged the bearish trend, as corporate performance indicators slid further by 1.28 per cent.

At the close of transactions yesterday, the All-Share Index closed lower at 24,891.73 points, from 25,210.05 points, while market capitalisation of listed equities dropped to N6.09 trillion from N6.17 trillion.

Similarly, in the equities sector, a total of 404.5 million shares valued at N2.63 billion changed hands down from a total of 361.4 million shares worth N5.58 billion traded in the previous day.

Accounting for the bulk of transactions for the day, the banking sub-sector traded 311.8 million shares worth N1.655 billion, followed by the insurance sub-sector with 35 million shares valued at N38.1 million, while the food/beverages and tobacco sub-sector traded 12.2 million shares worth N435.5 million.

On the day’s price movement chart, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc topped the day’s price losers’ chart with a loss of 154 kobo to close at N71.01 per share, followed by Cadbury Nigeria Plc with 148 kobo to close at N28.31 per share, while Ashaka Cement Plc shed 114 kobo to close at N21.67 per share.

On the other hand, Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc led the price gainers’ chart with 13 kobo to close at N2.75 per share, followed by Honeywell Flour Mill Plc and Capital Hotel Plc, which added 11 kobo each to close at N5.38 and N2.71 respectively.

 

Source: Guardian