Lagos — Transaction at the Nigerian Stock Exchange continued on the negative territory at the opening of transactions yesterday, as market indicators recorded a 1.5 per cent decrease.

The market had closed for two working days last week as a result of the Muslim festival.

Particularly, the equity capitalisation, which represents the value of listed equities, dropped by N49 billion or 0.9 per cent at the close of yesterday's trading to close at N4.998 trillion. It had opened at N5.047 points.

The all-share index also dropped by 207.48 basis points or 0.9 per cent to close at 21,010 points from 21,635.36 points.

38 quoted companies recorded price depreciation in comparison to 30 that appreciated in price at the end of the day's transactions.

Conoil Plc. led on the flip side with N1.58k decrease to close at N30.8k per share, followed by UACN with N1.50k loss to close at N36.50k per share. Zenith Bank lost 68k to close at N13.7k per share; Ashakacem trailed behind, dropping 61k to close at N11.68k, while UBA that was the least on the top five losers' table, lost 53k to close at N11.10k per share.

On the other hand, Flourmill Plc. led the pack of other gainers, rising by N1.50k to close at N35 per share. PZ Custom followed with N1.18k increase to close at N24.79k per share. UAC-Properties appreciated by N1 to close at N21.12k; Lafarge WAPCO went up by 93k to close at N31.90k, while Cement Company of Nigeria that was the least on the top five gainers' chart, garnered 63k to close at N13.23k per share.

The banking sub-sector dominated activities on the sectoral chart, accounting for 132.7 million shares worth N1.1 billion exchanged in 3,284 deals. The insurance sub-sector followed with traded volume of 72.2 million shares valued at N56.1 million done in 589 deals.

First bank Plc. posted 21.697 million shares valued at N303.9 million, exchanged by investors in 868 deals to top others in the banking sub-sector, while Cornerstone Insurance accounted for 18.2 million shares worth N11.4 million in 24 deals.

In all, investors bought 261.5 million shares valued at N1.8 billion done in 5,807 deals.