Activities returned to negative territory on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday with major blue chips posting price depreciation due to profit taking.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dangote Cement and Total topped the losers’ chart with N9.90 and N9.80 to close at N265 and N240. 20 per share, respectively.

Nestle, another highly capitalised stocks, trailed with a loss of N5 to close at N1, 375, while Nigerian Breweries declined by N1.30 to close at N125.60 per share.

Guaranty Trust Bank depreciated by 90k to close at N47.60 per share.

Consequently, the market capitalisation which opened at N15.666 trillion shed N236 billion or 1.51 per cent to close at N15.430 trillion.

Similarly, the All-Share Index dipped 707.07 points or 1.62 per cent to close at 42,902.70 compared with 43,609.77 recorded on Tuesday.

On the other hand, Flour Mills led the gainers’ table, appreciating by N1.40 to close at N36 per share.

GlaxosmithKline followed with a gain of N1 to close at N22, while Eterna Oil appreciated by 59k to close at N6.40 per share.

Unilever added 50k to close at N60.10, while Cadbury increased by 40k to close at N16 per share.

In the same vein, the volume of shares traded dropped by 39.32 per cent as investors bought and sold 270.33 million shares valued at N5.18 billion transacted in 4,799 deals.

This was against a total of 445.50 million shares worth N5.96 billion achieved in 5,078 deals on Tuesday.

Zenith International Bank was the most active, accounting for 64.60 million shares valued at N2.01 billion.

Japaul Oil followed with an account of 17.48 million shares valued at N14.16 million, while Sterling Bank traded 16.90 million shares worth N30.91 million.

Fidelity Bank sold a total of 16.89 million shares valued at N50.87 million, while Transcorp exchanged 14.25 million shares worth N28.05 million.