The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed the week on a bearish note as investors recorded a N48 billion loss on Friday, according to market data.
Key performance indicators showed that the market dipped by 0.07 percent, with market capitalization declining from N70.510 trillion on Thursday to N70.462 trillion at Friday's close.
Similarly, the All-Share Index dropped by 76.07 points or 0.07 percent to close at 111,742.01, down from Thursday's 111,818.08 points.
Market Performance
The downward trend was primarily attributed to sell-offs in several stocks. Market breadth closed negative with 37 declining stocks against 28 gainers.
Leading the losers' table was Beta Glass, which declined by 10 percent to close at N232.65, followed by NCR Nigeria, also down by 10 percent to finish at N6.57 per share. Conoil dropped by 9.99 percent, settling at N298.10, while Legend Internet fell by 9.94 percent to close at N6.16. Industrial Medical Gases completed the top five losers, shedding 9.91 percent to end at N33.65 per share.
On the gainers' side, Omatek led with a 9.86 percent increase to settle at 78 kobo, followed by Red Star Express, which climbed by 9.62 percent to close at N8.32. Deap Capital Management rose by 9.38 percent to N1.05, while Sovereign Trust Insurance and May & Baker gained 9.09 percent and 8.26 percent to close at N1.08 and N11.80 per share, respectively.
Trading Activity
Trading volume saw a significant increase with 1.90 billion shares valued at N64.14 billion exchanged in 18,653 transactions. This represents a substantial jump from Thursday's 556.45 million shares worth N17.17 billion traded across 18,505 deals.
United Bank for Africa dominated the activity chart with 1.41 billion shares worth N49.02 billion. United Capital followed with 66.84 million shares valued at N1.32 billion, while Access Corporation, Fidelity Bank, and Zenith Bank rounded out the top five most traded stocks with 53.97 million, 31.38 million, and 29.93 million shares, respectively.
This marks the second consecutive day of losses for the NGX, following a N54 billion dip after four days of consecutive gains earlier in the week.
