Lagos – Investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday staked N3.71 billion on 340.59 million shares in 5,339 deals.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the volume of transactions represented 27.36 per cent decrease over the 468.913 million shares worth N3.85 billion traded in 5,345 deals on Wednesday.

The financial services sector remained the toast of investors as Wapic Insurance emerged the most traded stock.

The sector accounted for 72.73 million shares valued at N56.51 million in 198 deals.

UBA came second on the activity chart with 40.47 million shares worth N327.99 million in 332 deals, while Access Bank accounted for 37.38 million shares valued at N370.29 million in 120 deals.

Transcorp traded 30.58 million shares worth N128.87 million in 284 deals, while Custodians Insurance traded 15.71 million shares valued at N55.52 million in 32 deals.

The NSE All-Share Index depreciated by 413.89 points or 0.99 per cent to close at 41,228.66 from the previous 41,642.56 achieved on Wednesday.

The market capitalisation also dipped by N137 billion or 0.99 per cent to close at N13.613 trillion from the N13.750 trillion posted on Wednesday.

Nigerian Breweries led the losers’ chart by N8.89 to close at N170.11 per share.

Dagote Cement trailed with a loss of N5.75 to close at N224.25 per share.

Flour Mill dropped N1 to close at N77, while Nascon and UAC-Property depreciated by N1 each to close at N11.60 and N17.60 per share, respectively.

Conversely, Conoil recorded the highest price gain of N6.13 to close at N65.98 per share.

It was trailed by PZ Cussions with N1.56 price gain to close at N38.50, while Guinness appreciated by N1 to close at N180 per share.

Lafarge Wapco chalked up 80k to close at N110.50, while Ashaka Cement rose by 69k to close at N26.99 per share.