By Dipo Olowookere
The last trading day of the week on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended bullish on Friday as investors take advantage of the low prices of high value stocks to increase their holdings.
The bargain hunting led to the 0.12 percent growth recorded by the market with the All-Share Index (ASI) appreciating by 39.16 absolute points to close at 32,456.98 absolute points, and the market capitalisation increasing by N14 billion to finish at N11.849 trillion.
The Financial Services emerged the most active sector at the market, accounting for 98.7 million units of shares exchanged for N1.3 billion.
This was followed by equities in the Consumer Goods industry, which transacted 39.4 million units valued at N694 million.
A further breakdown showed that Honeywell Flour was the busiest stock at the session, trading 22.9 million shares worth N29.6 million.
FBN Holdings transacted 14.9 million shares valued at N135.6 million, while Zenith Bank exchanged 13.6 million equities for N300.7 million.
Furthermore, Ecobank recorded the sale of 11.6 million units of its stocks worth N203.3 million, while GTBank traded 11.6 million units for N422.7 million.
At the close of transactions, a total of 162.4 million shares worth N2.2 billion exchanged hands on Friday compared with the 148.5 million equities transacted on Thursday worth N2.9 billion.
This indicated that the volume of shares traded yesterday increased by 9.35 percent, while the value dropped by 21.70 percent.
The heaviest price loser on Friday at the close of market was Nestle Nigeria, which fell by N30 to finish at N1400 per share.
It was followed by Flour Mills, which depreciated by N1.15k to end at N20.80k per share, and Cadbury Nigeria, which went down by 80 kobo to settle at N9.50k per share.
Cutix declined by 43 kobo to close at N3.90k per share, while Axa Mansard shed 18 kobo to settle at N1.80k per share.
However, Nigerian Breweries put up a good performance and got a reward of N3, closing the day at N88 per share.
International Breweries grew by N1.50k to settle at N32 per share, while Unilever Nigeria appreciated by N1 to close at N43.50k per share.
Zenith Bank rose by 15 kobo to end at N22.20k per share, while Access Bank went up by 10 kobo to quote at N8 per share.
