Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Equities in the nation’s stock exchange succumbed to selling pressure on Friday, depreciating by 1.27 percent at the close of transactions.
It was the first loss on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 10 consecutive sessions. Selloffs in bellwether stocks contributed to the decline.
The bears overpowered the bulls, leaving the market with 17 price losers as against the 15 price gainers during the session.
MTN Nigeria was the heaviest price loser yesterday, shedding N8 to sell at N112 per unit, while GTBank followed with a 55 kobo loss to settle at N21.95 per unit.
BUA Cement depreciated by 40 kobo to trade at N31.90 per share, Guinness Nigeria lost 30 kobo to quote at N18 per unit, while C&I Leasing decreased in value by 20 kobo to sell at N4.50 per share.
At the other side of the table, Nigerian Breweries closed as the highest price gainer, appreciating by N2.60 to trade at N37.50 per share.
Custodian Investment gained 45 kobo to quote at N6.30 per unit, Zenith Bank improved by 20 kobo to sell at N15.40 per share, GlaxoSmithKline garnered 20 kobo to sell at N5.60 per unit, while Africa Prudential chalked up 19 kobo to quote at N3.90 per share.
Business Post reports that the volume of shares traded on Friday reduced by 51.67 percent to 208.6 million units from 431.6 million units.
Equally, the value of stocks transacted by investors went down 58.31 percent to N2.2 billion from N5.3 billion, while the number of deals decreased by 26.28 percent to 4,320 from 5,860.
Only two of the five key sectors closed positive on Friday; consumer goods index closed 1.28 percent higher, while the insurance counter appreciated by 0.49 percent.
On the other hand, the industrial goods sector was the most depressed, losing 0.63 percent, while the banking space fell by 0.45 percent, with the oil/gas index going down by 0.41 percent.
On its part, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 308.85 points to 24,045.40 points from 24,354.25 points, while the market capitalisation shed N161 billion to settle at N12.531 trillion in contrast to N12.692 trillion it ended on Thursday.
