The local equity market on Friday closed in a negative trend depreciating by N18 billion, as bears dominated the market.
Trading result for the day showed that market capitalization of listed equities declined by 0.03 per cent to N55.507 trillion from N55.525 trillion reported the previous day.
The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 30.98 basis points to 98125.73 points from 98156.71 points traded on Thursday.
With the market negative performance the year to date return went to 31.23 per cent as number of companies that recorded price depreciation stood at 24 while 13 firms closed in green.
An analysis of the Investment showed that PZ Cusson led gainers table with 9.92 per cent to close at N21.60 per share, Julius Berger followed with a gain of 9.53 per cent to close at N79.30 per unit, Sterling Bank gained 6.67 per cent to close at N4.48 per share, FCMB group added 5.26 per cent to close at N7.00 United Bank for Africa increased by 4.55 per cent to close at N21.85 per unit.
On the contrary, Transcorp Hotel recorded the highest loss, declining by 9.72 per cent to close at N92.00, NEM Insurance trailed with a loss of 9.63 per cent to close at N8.45 per unit, UPDC REIT dipped by 9.57 per cent to close at N4.25 per unit, Eterna Plc declined by. 9.35 per cent to close at N11.15 per unit while Tanterlizer fell by 9.09 per cent to close at N0.50 per unit.
The volume of trades also depreciated by 268.995 million, representing 65.64 per cent as investors traded 140.771 million shares valued at N9.416 billion in 6934 deals against 409.766 million shares worth N8.925 billion in 7296 deals.
Further analysis showed that AccessCorp led market activities with 25.614 million shares valued at N435.098 millions n, GTCO Plc followed with 13.772 million shares worth N548.653 million, UBA traded 5.634 million shares cost N123.275 million, FBNHoldings exchanged 3.317 million shares cost N123.058 million, while Wema Bank exchanged 5.188 million shares worth N33.858 million.
