The nation’s equity market on Friday took a negative direction, declining by N168 billion.
The market capitalisation of listed equities decreased by 0.28 per cent to N59.107 trillion from N59.275 trillion reported the previous day.
The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 276.94 basis points to 97506.87 points from 97783.81 points traded on Thursday.
The poor performance of the market during the day was driven by loss recorded in the shares of Seplat Energy, GTCO, Oando Plc, Wapco, Cornerstone Insurance and other 21 firms.
As a result, the year-to-date return dropped to 30.40 per cent as 27 companies took positive direction against 26 firms that closed in red.
A review of trading during the day showed that HMCall led the gainers table with 9.54 per cent to close at N6.20 per unit, Royal Express followed with a gain of 8.77 per cent to close at N0.62 per unit, Sovereign Trust Insurance added 7.35 per cent to close at N0.73 per share, Tantalizer grew by 5.50 per cent to close at N1.15 per unit, MPF Micro Finance Bank up by 4.67 per cent to close at N1.57 per share.
On the contrary, Regal Insurance recorded the highest loss during the day, depreciating by 9.80 per cent to close at N0.46 per unit, Lasaco Insurance followed with a drop of 9.75 per cent to close at N2.13 per unit, Academy press dipped by 9.71 per cent to close at N2.79 per share, Austinlaz fell by 9.68 per cent to close at N1.96 per share, Cornerstone Insurance down by 6.91 per cent to close at N2.56 per share.
The volume of transactions also went down by 117.447 million, representing 18.56 per cent as investors traded 515.494 million shares valued at N15.082 billion against 632.941 million shares cost N10.811 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 8404 deals.
Trading in the shares of FBNHoldings led market activities with 126.021 million shares valued at N3.279 billion, HMCall followed with account of 91.280 million shares cost N521.768 million, Japaul Gold traded 61.383 million shares cost N138.912 million, Tantalizer traded 35.709 million shares cost N40.481 million, Sterling Bank exchanged 23.807 million shares valued at N114.503 million.
