By Dipo Olowookere
The local stock exchange finished lower by 0.05 per cent on Friday following heavy sell-offs across the key sectors of the bourse.
Data showed that the banking sector lost 0.64 per cent, the energy index depreciated by 0.54 per cent, the consumer goods counter declined by 0.04 per cent, and the industrial goods space went down by 0.01 per cent, with the insurance sector appreciating by 0.45 per cent.
At the close of trades, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited decreased by 27.63 points to 55,794.51 points from 55,822.14 points, as the market capitalisation declined by N14 billion to N30.395 trillion from N30.409 trillion.
Investor sentiment was weak on the last trading session of the week due to a negative market breadth, as there were 18 price losers and nine price gainers.
Conoil topped the losers’ chart after it fell by 9.95 per cent to N38.00, Caverton lost 9.65 per cent to finish at N1.03, Champion Breweries went down by 8.00 per cent to N4.60, Honeywell Flour shrank by 3.93 per cent to N2.20, and Chams dropped 3.85 per cent to 25 Kobo.
On the flip side, NCR Nigeria topped the gainers’ table after it improved by 9.89 per cent to N2.89, NGX Group appreciated by 7.26 per cent to N28.80, Ardova grew by 6.90 per cent to N17.05, Axa Mansard increased by 5.00 per cent to N2.10, and RT Briscoe gained 3.85 per cent to close at 27 Kobo.
During the session, investors traded 276.0 million shares worth N8.6 billion in 3,467 deals compared with the 311.5 million shares worth N3.1 billion traded in 3,627 deals on Thursday, representing an increase in the trading value by 177.42 per cent, a decline in the trading volume by 11.40 per cent and a fall in the number of deals by 4.41 per cent.
Transcorp recorded the highest trading volume yesterday after it sold 87.4 million stocks, BUA Cement traded 70.9 million shares, UBA exchanged 13.8 million equities, Zenith Bank transacted 13.2 million shares, and Chams traded 9.8 million equities.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka