Trading on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) ended the week in negative territory on Friday, with investors recording a loss of N64 billion amid declines in 21 equities.
The downturn was largely attributed to profit-taking in Multiverse Mining, Livingtrust Mortgage Bank, Etranzact, Haldane McCall and Sovereign Trust Insurance, as well as 16 other stocks.
The market capitalisation dropped by N64 billion, representing a 0.04 per cent decline, from N164.859 trillion at the opening to N164.795 trillion at the close of trading.
Similarly, the All-Share Index shed 97.64 points to settle at 252,269.16, down from 252,366.80 recorded at the beginning of the session.
The decline also reduced the market’s year-to-date return to 62.11 per cent.
Despite the overall decline, market breadth remained positive, with 22 equities advancing against 21 decliners.
Caverton Offshore Support Group emerged as the day’s biggest gainer, rising by 10 per cent to close at N4.40 per share.
Fortis Global Insurance followed with a 9.93 per cent increase to N1.66, while Austinlaz appreciated by 9.91 per cent to N2.44 per share.
Lasaco Assurance gained 9.20 per cent to close at N1.90, while Veritas Kapital Assurance advanced by nine per cent to N1.09 per share.
On the losing side, Multiverse Mining recorded the highest decline, shedding 9.90 per cent to close at N17.30 per share.
Livingtrust Mortgage Bank fell by 9.69 per cent to N2.33, while Etranzact declined by 8.11 per cent to N17 per share.
Haldane McCall also lost 4.58 per cent to close at N3.33, while Sovereign Trust Insurance dropped by 3.52 per cent to N2.19 per share.
Meanwhile, trading activity increased, with investors exchanging 3.70 billion shares in 27,205 transactions valued at N23.11 billion, representing a 26.86 per cent rise in trading volume.
Linkage Assurance accounted for the highest volume, recording 3.10 billion shares, representing 83.90 per cent of the total shares traded.
First Holdco led transactions by value, with shares worth N7.33 billion exchanged, accounting for 31.71 per cent of the market’s total transaction value.
(NAN)
