The stock market reversed its gains from its two previous sessions of uptrend, recording a N264 billion loss for investors on Friday.
The market relapse was driven by selloffs in stocks like Livingtrust Mortgage Bank, Veritas Kapital Assurance, Secure Electronic Technology, NGX Group and 39 other stocks. Specifically, the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) market capitalisation, which opened at N90.008 trillion, shed N264 billion or 0.29 per cent to close at N89.744 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index lost 0.29 per cent or 417.72 points to close at 141,845.35, against 142,263.07 recorded on Thursday. The market breadth closed negative with 43 losers against 11 gainers.
Livingtrust Mortgage Bank led the decliners’ table by 10 per cent, ending the session at N4.77. Veritas Kapital Assurance trailed by 9.91 per cent, settling at N2 per share. Secure Electronic Technology lost 8.54 per cent, closing at 75k, while NGX Group decreased by 8.32 per cent, finishing at N55.10 per share.
Similarly, United Capital shed by 7.56 per cent, closing at N18.95 per share. Conversely, Deap Capital Management led the gainers’ table by 9.94 per cent, settling at N1.88, Sovereign Trust Insurance followed by 7.67 per cent, closing at N3.09 per share.
Nigerian Breweries soared by 6.37 per cent, finishing at N75.95, Guinness Nigeria added by 4.49 per cent, ending the session at N183.90, while Legend Internet rose by 3.89 per cent, closing at N5.61 per share.
Analysis of the market activities revealed improvements in trade turnover, volume and deals, relative to the previous session.
A total of 435.2 million shares valued at N15.13 billion were traded across 24,309, compared to the previous session’s 325.1 million shares worth N8.4 billion that were exchanged across 22,779 transactions.
Meanwhile, United Bank for Africa topped the activity chart in volume and value with 82.05 million shares valued at 3.55 billion. Access Corporation followed with 29.4 million shares, worth N765.2 million, while Zenith Bank sold 27.9 million shares valued at N1.8 billion.
CHAMS transacted 19.5 million shares worth N63.7 million, and FirstHoldCo traded 18.02 million shares valued at N575.6 million.
