Floor of Nigerian Stock Echange Nigerian stocks contracted 0.34 per cent on Friday, a decline driven by investors showing more willingness to sell shares in Dangote Cement and GTCO (two of Nigeria’s most capitalised companies) than to hold them.
Dangote Cement saw depreciation in its shares despite its recent announcement to buy back 170 million units of its common stock next week, while GTCO continued on a free fall, which has seen it lose its long-held status as Nigeria’s biggest lender by market value to Zenith Bank.
Market sentiment, a gauge of investors’ sentiment towards trade, closed on a negative note, given that 17 losers were reported, compared to 14 gainers.
Decreasing by 150.07 basis points, the all-share index closed at 44,454.67. Also, market capitalisation finished lower at N24 trillion.
So far this year, the index is down by 4.07 per cent. TOP FIVE GAINERS
Fidson led gainers, growing by 9.65 per cent to close at N7.50. Julius Berger gained 3.64 per cent to close at N22.80. Sterling Bank rose by 3.29 per cent to N1.57. UPDC leapt to N1.18, notching up 2.61 per cent in the process. Regal Insurance completed the top 5, climbing up by 2.22 per cent to N0.46. TOP FIVE LOSERS
Sunu Assurance led losers, declining by 8.81 per cent to N0.31. Cutix shrank by 7.17 per cent to end the day at N2.46. Mutual Benefit tumbled to N0.27, losing 3.57 per cent. Jaiz Bank dipped to N0.68, recording 2.86 per cent loss. Royal Exchange closed at N0.80, going down 2.44 per cent. ALSO READ: Nigerian stocks post first 2022 loss as investors dump consumer goods’ shares
TOP FIVE TRADES
In all, 405.7 million shares worth N9.8 billion were traded in 3,880 deals.
BUA Foods was the most preferred stock, with 102.6 million units of its shares worth N6.8 billion traded in 124 deals. Transcorp transacted 97.2 million shares, priced at N110.2 million in 404 deals. Access Bank had 33.2 million shares valued at N315.8 million traded in 168 deals. FBN Holdings traded 26.6 million shares estimated at N318.6 million in 131 transactions. Jaiz traded 25.9 million shares valued at N17.8 million in 111 deals.
