Zenith Bank and First Bank equities top the gainers' table as share value dipped further to N6.212 trillion after trading on the floor of the Nigeria stock exchange closed yesterday.

Zenith Bank which has been shedding weight in the last few days recorded a gain of N0.81 per share to close at N17.96 per share. The bank on the previous day trading has lost N1.66 per share.

First bank also recorded a marginal gain on its equities with N0.67 per share to close at N17.99 per share. Other banks on the gainers' list include Diamond bank and BankPHB. While Diamond bank gained N0.16 per share to close at N6.16 per share, BankPHB added N0.39 per share to close at N8.29 per share.

The marginal gain in BankPHB is expected. Right now, the bank is on the verge of acquiring three million shares in Spring bank and it has asked shareholders of Spring Bank to dispose their shares for easy acquisition by the bank

It would be recalled that the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Charles Soludo had persistently said that Nigerian banking sector is capable of withstanding any financial crisis and that it would further provide succour to the nation's economy.

Invariably, since the financial meltdown, the sector's equities, though shedding weight have been consistent.

However, market capitalisation which represents the value of the entire securities listed on the floor of the exchange drop by N37.389 billion about 0.6 per cent to close at N6.212 trillion. This was in sharp contrast to what was recorded on the floor of the exchange previous day. On Monday, the market closed at N6.250 trillion, about N93.666 billion loss from the market capital base last Friday.

All-share index also shed 169.02 points level, about 0.6 per cent to close at 28,085.01 point level.

In all, a total of 437.951 million shares worth N2.758 billion in 7,795 deals were transacted at the exchange on Tuesday.

Banking sub sector remained dominance as investor staked a whooping sum of N1.964 billion on 283.250 million shares in 4,769 deals.

Activities in the Spring bank's equities drive the sector with a turnover of 98.439 million shares valued at N550.275 million in 105 deals

Insurance sector followed with a turnover of 67.400 million shares worth N106.378 million shares in 795 deals.

Activities in the shares of Consolidated Hallmark drive the sector with a volume of 10.058 million shares valued at N9.057 million in 227 deals.

Meanwhile, Chevron lost heavily with N11.44 to close at N217.49 per share while Oando followed with a loss of N3.55 per share to close at N67.45 per share.