By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The 7-day upward trend recorded on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was brought to an end on Friday mainly due to the poor performance recorded by Dangote Cement, Dangote Flour and 15 other equities at the market today.
Business Post reports that the major market indices closed in red today at the close of business activities at the NSE.
The stock market, which went down by 0.71 percent, saw the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciating by 276.61 points to close at 39,257.53 points, while the market capitalisation lost N96.3 billion to settle at N13.7 trillion.
In addition, the year-to-date return reduced to 46.08 percent from 47.11 percent recorded yesterday. However, the market breadth still remained positive with 27 price gainers and 17 price losers.
The volume and value of shares transacted by investors went down today by 49.99 percent and 49.58 percent respectively.
Specifically, investors traded 530 million shares worth N5.1 billion in 5,066 deals compared with 1.1 billion equities transacted yesterday valued at N10.2 billion.
Just like the previous day, the Financial Services sector led the activity chart on Friday with 454.9 million shares exchanged for N3.7 billion, and was followed by the Consumer Goods sector, which traded 39 million shares worth N1 billion.
A breakdown of this showed that Access Bank emerged the most traded stock in terms of volume, selling 119.6 million units worth N1.4 billion.
It was followed by Fidelity Bank, which traded 103.6 million shares valued at N263.2 million, and AIICO, which transacted 53.2 million shares for N29.3 million.
Also, FBN Holdings traded 39.3 million shares at N354.4 million, while Diamond Bank exchanged 31.3 million shares worth N45 million.
Dangote Cement was the highest price loser on Friday, losing N5 of its share value to wrap the day at N245 per share.
It was trailed by International Breweries, which went down by N2.98k to close at N56.78k per share, and Unilever, which shed N2.18k to finish at N41.61k per share.
Lafarge fell on Friday by N1 to close its share price at N48 per share, while Dangote Flour depreciated by 64k to end at N11.40k per share.
However, Mobil gave its shareholders a reason to smile after adding gaining N7.61k to close at N159.82k per share.
Despite the controversy trailing its proposed acquisition, 7up appreciated today by N4.85k to finish at N101.97k per share, while Presco rose by N3.30k to settle at N69.30k per share.
Furthermore, Nigerian Breweries increased by N1.50k to close at N145 per share, and Forte Oil improved by N1.27k to end at N44.50k per share.
Adedapo Adesanya