By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited suffered a 0.02 per cent loss on Friday in a fierce bears-and-bulls battle that mounted pressure on the local bourse.
The bears ran away with the spoils of war, with the All-Share Index (ASI) down by 21.96 points at the close of transactions to 98,233.76 points from 98,255.72 points and the market capitalisation weakened by N8 billion to N55.562 trillion from N55.570 trillion.
The banking and industrial goods sectors, which closed higher by 0.53 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively, could not stop the fury of the bears during the session due to the 1.82 per cent posted by the insurance space, a 0.33 per cent decline recorded by the energy counter, and the 0.29 per cent fall reported by the consumer goods index.
In terms of the market breadth, it was positive after a slim victory by the bulls, as there were 26 price gainers and 25 price losers, indicating a bullish investor sentiment.
AXA Mansard depreciated by 10.00 per cent to N5.13, PZ Cussons lost 9.90 per cent to trade at N27.75, Eterna also slumped by 9.90 per cent to N13.65, McNichols fell by 9.00 per cent to 91 Kobo, and ABC Transport crashed by 8.45 per cent to 65 Kobo.
Conversely, Honeywell Flour jumped by 9.97 per cent to N3.31, Guinea Insurance grew by 9.68 per cent to 34 Kobo, International Energy Insurance soared by 9.63 per cent to N1.48, Tantalizers expanded by 9.52 per cent to 46 Kobo, and The Initiates advanced by 9.00 per cent to N2.30.
On the final trading day of the week, investors bought and sold 344.4 million shares valued at N7.5 billion in 8,497 deals versus the 676.4 million shares worth N16.7 billion traded in 8,415 in the preceding session, representing a decline in the trading volume and value by 49.08 per cent, and 55.09 per cent, respectively, and a rise in the number of deals by 0.97 per cent.
UBA closed the day as the busiest stock with the sale of 90.1 million units valued at N2.4 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 39.6 million units for N691.1 million, Zenith Bank traded 35.1 million units worth N1.2 billion, AXA Mansard sold 13.0 million units valued at N68.0 million, and Prestige Assurance transacted 12.2 million units worth N6.7 million.
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