By Dipo Olowookere
Profit-taking by investors crashed Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.23 per cent on Friday amid liquidation of equities for pressing needs.
The sell-offs were mostly witnessed in the banking and industrial goods sectors, which retreated by 1.14 per cent and 0.46 per cent, respectively.
They overpowered the gains of 1.10 per cent, 0.46 per cent and 0.33 per cent recorded by the insurance, consumer goods and energy counters, respectively.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) crumbled by 221.10 points to 97,829.02 points from the preceding day’s 98,050.12 points and the market capitalisation came down by N134 billion to N59.292 trillion from the N59.426 trillion it closed on Thursday.
The activity log showed that the bourse was quiet as the trading volume, value and number of deals decreased by 19.75 per cent, 33.70 per cent, and 7.79 per cent, respectively.
This was because a total of 366.6 million shares valued at N6.1 billion exchanged hands in 9,677 deals during the session versus the 456.8 million shares worth N9.2 billion traded in 10,495 deals a day earlier.
FBN Holdings ended the day as the busiest after selling 42.4 million equities worth N1.1 billion, Guinea Insurance traded 34.9 million shares valued at N20.5 million, Prestige Assurance transacted 27.1 million stocks for N20.7 million, Cutix sold 21.9 million shares for N50.9 million, and Fidelity Bank traded 15.8 million equities valued at N251.0 million.
On the last session of the week, MeCure was the worst-performing stock after it shed 9.83 per cent to quote at N10.55, Multiverse depreciated by 9.03 per cent to N6.55, DAAR Communications fell by 8.82 per cent to 62 Kobo, FBN Holdings slumped by 5.75 per cent to N25.40, and Lafarge Africa plunged by 5.26 per cent to N54.00.
Conversely, Eunisell ended the day as the best-performing stock after it increased its share price by 9.99 per cent to N19.27, Austin Laz gained 9.92 per cent to settle at N2.66, Haldane McCall grew by 9.91 per cent to N5.10, Thomas Wyatt appreciated by 9.77 per cent to N1.91, and Tantalizers expanded by 9.26 per cent to N1.18.
At the close of business, the bourse recorded 27 appreciating equities and 25 depreciating equities, representing a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment despite the poor outcome.
Adedapo Adesanya