By Dipo Olowookere
Shares in the oil and gas sector recorded huge losses today to reverse the gains posted yesterday by the local bourse.
The sector depreciated by 2.43 percent on Friday courtesy losses posted by Acorn Petroleum, Mobil Oil Nigeria, Forte Oil, Japaul Oil, Total Nigeria and others.
Business Post reports that at the close of transactions today, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) went down again by 0.08 percent to reverse the 0.31 percent gain of yesterday, pushing the year-to-date returns back to 6.79 percent.
There were pockets of profit taking at the market today as investors try to cash in on the gains of the previous session.
Mobil Oil Nigeria emerged the biggest price loser, shedding N13 of its share value to settle at N170 per share.
It was followed by Total Nigeria, which lost N12.40k to close at N236.60k per share, and International Breweries, which declined by N2.55k to end up at N49.15k per share.
GlaxoSmithKline went down by N2.50k to finish at N40 per share, while Forte Oil deflated by N1.90k to settle at N40 per share.
At the other side, it was a good day for Nestle Nigeria as the stock added N5 to its share price to close at N1385 per share.
Unilever appreciated by N4.80k to end at N59.80k per share, while Nigerian Breweries moved up by 70k to finish at N129 per share.
Dangote Sugar grew by 70k to close at N21.45k per share, while May & Baker flew by 28k to settle at N3.20k per share.
Our correspondent reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased today by 34.55 points to close at 40,841.14 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N12.5 billion to finish at N14.753 trillion.
While the volume of trades recorded today increased, the value of transactions went down at the close of business.
A total of 502 million shares worth N5.9 billion exchanged hands on Friday in 6,108 against the 495.6 million units sold on Thursday in 4,614 deals valued at N7.7 billion.
Investors could not resist shares of African Alliance Insurance at the stock market today with the counter emerging the most active stock after trading 120 million units worth N27.8 million.
Access Bank followed with 103.7 million shares sold for N1.3 billion, and UBA, which transacted 49.3 million equities worth N587 million.
GTBank traded 35.6 million units for N1.6 billion, while Zenith Bank exchanged 31.5 million shares worth N855.3 million.
Business Post expects the market to resume next week on a positive note as investors try to mop up shares which have performed woefully lately in anticipation of a price appreciation later.
