By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited depreciated by 0.18 per cent on Friday as investors sold off shares of Access Holdings, Guinness Nigeria, Cadbury Nigeria, MTN Nigeria and seven others.
Cutix ended as the worst-performing stock after it topped the losers’ chart, with a price depreciation of 8.11 per cent to close at N2.04. International Breweries lost 6.12 per cent to settle at N4.60, GlaxoSmithKline fell by 4.41 per cent to close at N6.50, Access Holdings declined by 4.26 per cent to N9.00, and Guinness Nigeria dropped 3.71 per cent to end at N70.00.
On the flip side, CAP topped the gainers’ chart after it grew by 9.83 per cent to N19.55, Northern Nigerian Flour Mills expanded by 9.76 per cent to N6.75, Japaul increased by 9.68 per cent to 34 Kobo, Tripple Gee improved by 9.38 per cent to N1.05, and Cornerstone Insurance rose by 9.26 per cent to 59 Kobo.
Despite the loss, at the close of business, the market breadth ended positively with 24 price gainers and 11 price losers, indicating a strong investor sentiment.
From the analysis, the bearish outcome was triggered by the poor performance of the consumer goods and the banking sectors, which lost 0.39 per cent and 0.03 per cent, respectively.
However, the insurance space appreciated by 0.36 per cent, the energy sector went up by 0.13 per cent, and the industrial goods counter closed higher by 0.01 per cent.
When the market closed for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 95.08 points to 52,657.88 points from 52,752.96 points, and the market capitalisation dropped N52 billion to N28.681 trillion from N28.733 trillion.
On the last trading session of the week, investors transacted 171.1 million shares valued at N2.3 billion in 3,599 deals compared with the 139.7 million worth N2.0 billion traded in 3,549 deals on Thursday, indicating an increase in the trading volume, value and the number of deals by 22.48 per cent, 15.00 per cent, and 1.41 per cent, respectively.
Fidelity Bank finished the day as the most active stock as it transacted 26.7 million units, with Chams trading 17.8 million units. FBN Holdings exchanged 15.1 million equities, Japaul sold 9.1 million shares, and GTCO transacted 8.7 million stocks.
