Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Profit-taking in financial stocks by investors brought down the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.10 per cent on Friday.
Business Post reports that the insurance index went down by 1.46 per cent and the banking space depreciated by 1.26 per cent during the last trading session of the three-day trading week.
The consumer goods sector rose by 0.16 per cent, the energy counter improved by 0.12 per cent, and the industrial goods sector gained 0.08 per cent.
However, the gains by the trio could not stop the NGX trading indices to finish in the green territory, as the All-Share Index (ASI) plunged by 100.01 points to 99,743.05 points from 99,843.06 points, and the market capitalisation moderated by N56 billion to N56.424 trillion from the N56.480 trillion recorded a day earlier.
A total of 617.2 million shares worth N11.4 billion were traded in 9,273 deals during the session versus the 1.3 billion shares worth N25.2 billion traded in 8,215 deals in the preceding session, representing a decline in the trading volume and value by 52.22 per cent and 54.76 per cent apiece, and a rise in the number of deals by 12.88 per cent.
FBN Holdings closed the session as the busiest after selling 207.9 million equities for N4.6 billion, GTCO transacted 58.6 million stocks valued at N2.6 billion, Veritas Kapital traded 57.6 million shares worth N55.2 million, AIICO Insurance exchanged 46.8 million stocks worth N45.2 million, and Fidelity Bank traded 38.5 million equities valued at N392.2 million.
Multiverse ended the day as the worst-performing stock after declining by 9.68 per cent to N11.20, RT Briscoe fell by 7.46 per cent to 62 Kobo, Sunu Assurances depreciated by 6.25 per cent to N1.20, NEM Insurance crumbled by 5.95 per cent to N7.90, and Fidelity Bank decreased by 4.81 per cent to N9.90.
On the flip side, International Breweries was the best-performing stock after it gained 10.00 per cent to N4.40, Thomas Wyatt improved by 9.95 per cent to N2.10, Chams climbed higher by 9.86 per cent to N2.34, Champion Breweries jumped by 9.83 per cent to N3.91, and John Holt expanded by 9.66 per cent to N2.61.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment was weak yesterday after the bourse recorded 26 price losers and 23 price gainers, implying a positive market breadth index.
