By Dipo Olowookere
For the fifth consecutive trading session, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closed lower by 0.22 per cent on Friday as investors maintained their selling stance.
The domestic bourse ended in the negative region yesterday after the energy and industrial goods sectors waned by 0.07 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively.
This occurred despite the gains of 1.15 per cent, 0.23 per cent and 0.15 per cent achieved by the respective trio of the banking, consumer goods and insurance indices.
This was because the All-Share Index (ASI) cooled by 219.21 points to 97,432.02 points from 97,651.23 points as the market capitalisation deflated by N133 billion to close at N59.039 trillion compared with the previous day’s N59.172 trillion.
Investor sentiment was weak during the last trading day of the week after Customs Street finished with 31 price losers and 23 price gainers, representing a negative market breadth index.
Aradel Holdings maintained its downward trend as it fell by 10.00 per cent to quote at N445.60, Ellah Lakes shrank by 9.92 per cent to N3.54, Multiverse slumped by 9.66 per cent to N7.95, McNichols crumbled by 9.62 per cent to N1.41, and Custodian Investment contracted by 6.98 per cent to N12.00.
Conversely, John Holt gained 10.00 per cent to settle at N3.30, Eunisell gained 9.98 per cent to close at N5.62, Red Star Express appreciated by 9.83 per cent to N4.47, Coronation Insurance leapt by 9.52 per cent to 92 Kobo, and PZ Cussons advanced by 8.64 per cent to N22.00.
Yesterday, market participants traded 888.8 million equities valued at N15.8 billion in 8,803 deals versus the 536.8 million equities worth N10.0 billion transacted in 9,053 deals on Thursday, implying a decline in the number of deals by 2.76 per cent and a jump in the trading volume and value by 65.57 per cent and 58.00 per cent, respectively.
On Friday, the busiest stock was Fidelity Bank with 540.8 million units sold for N7.7 billion, Jaiz Bank traded 68.7 million units worth N161.5 million, Chams transacted 49.4 million units valued at N102.1 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 40.7 million units for N1.7 billion, and GTCO traded 22.5 million units valued at N1.2 billion.