Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The rebalancing of portfolios by traders took a toll on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday as it marginally closed lower by 0.01 per cent when trading activities were brought to an end.
Investors took advantage of the gains posted by the stock market in the past trading sessions to book profit and watch how things play out in the coming days.
Shares in the financial and energy sectors were the worst hit on the last trading session of the week, as the insurance index shed 2.83 per cent, the energy counter lost 0.73 per cent, the banking sector declined by 0.54 per cent, and the industrial goods space fell by 0.02 per cent.
They weakened the 0.06 per cent growth posted by the consumer goods sector yesterday, resulting in the All-Share Index (ASI) going down by 4.63 points to 59,206.63 points from 59,211.26 points, as the market capitalisation shrank by N4 billion to N32.237 trillion from N32.241 trillion.
Unity Bank closed the session as the worst-performing stock after its value depleted by 9.84 per cent to N1.10 and was trailed by Coronation Insurance, which declined by 9.57 per cent to 85 Kobo.
Further, McNichols depreciated by 9.46 per cent to 67 Kobo, NEM Insurance went down by 9.09 per cent to N6.30, and Ecobank moderated by 9.09 per cent to N14.00.
Yesterday, the quartet of NASCON, RT Briscoe, Transcorp Hotel and Fidson closed as the best-performing stocks after gaining 10.00 per cent each to quote at N18.70, 44 Kobo, N17.60, and N12.87 apiece, as Cornerstone Insurance appreciated by 9.91 per cent to N1.22.
A total of 627.9 million stocks worth N9.2 billion exchanged hands in 6,953 deals on Friday compared with the 615.9 million stocks worth N6.6 billion transacted in 7,459 deals on Thursday, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 6.78 per cent, and an improvement in the trading volume and value by 1.95 per cent and 39.39 per cent, respectively.
Living Trust Mortgage Bank sold 113.0 million equities for N304.0 million to top the activity chart by volume and was trailed by UBA, which exchanged 62.7 million stocks worth N714.4 million. GTCO traded 49.5 million shares valued at N1.6 billion, Transcorp transacted 38.0 million stocks for N119.6 million, and Zenith Bank traded 36.4 million equities valued at N1.2 billion.
