By Dipo Olowookere
The sum of N16 billion was lost by equities at the nation’s stock market on Friday as investors embarked on profit taking from the gains recorded on Wednesday and Thursday.
This caused the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to go down to N12.808 trillion from N12.824 trillion and also reduced the All-Share Index (ASI) by 33.59 points or 0.13 percent to 26,536.21 points from 26,569.80 points.
Business Post observed that selloffs in MTN Nigeria and other value stocks contributed to the downfall of the market during the session. The GSM service provider led the losers’ chart after depreciating by N2.70 to finish at N115.30 per unit.
GlaxoSmithKline went down by 55 kobo to close at N5.25 per share, UBA declined by 25 kobo to end at N6.60 per unit, Oando went down by 18 kobo to settle at N3.62 per share, while Caverton fell by 10 kobo by to trade at N2.45 per unit.
Leading the gainers’ table on Friday was Presco with a price appreciation of N2.05 to close at N43.50 per unit, while Dangote Sugar followed after rising by 55 kobo to trade at N16.55 per unit.
Lafarge Africa garnered 45 kobo to finish at N13.95 per share, Ecobank chalked up 35 kobo to settle at N6.90 per share, while PZ Cussons appreciated by 25 kobo to finish at N5.25 per unit.
A look at the activity level indicated that the volume of transactions went down on Friday by 51.41 percent to 155.4 million units from 319.7 million units, while the value dropped by 53.40 percent to N1.4 billion from N3.1 billion.
UBA was the most active stock in the day, with a turnover of 42.6 million units sold for N285.2 million, while Zenith Bank followed with 13.7 million shares traded for N256.9 million.
Union Diagnostic exchanged 11.8 million stocks valued at N2.6 million, FBN Holdings transacted 8.5 million equities worth N55.4 million, while Access Bank also traded 8.5 million shares worth N79.6 million.
