The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) ended the trading week on a bearish note, with investors losing a total of N48 billion on Friday. This came after four straight days of gains earlier in the week.
Data from the NGX showed a 0.07 percent drop in key market indicators. The market capitalisation fell from N70.510 trillion on Thursday to N70.462 trillion at the close of trading on Friday.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 76.07 points to 111,742.01, down from 111,818.08 recorded the previous day.
The loss was largely driven by sell-offs in major stocks such as Beta Glass, NCR Nigeria, Conoil, Legend Internet, and Industrial Medical Gases.
On the losers’ chart, Beta Glass dropped by 10 percent to close at N232.65 per share, while NCR Nigeria also lost 10 percent, ending at N6.57. Conoil declined by 9.99 percent to N298.10, Legend Internet fell by 9.94 percent to N6.16, and Industrial Medical Gases shed 9.91 percent to close at N33.65.
Market breadth was negative, with 37 stocks declining, while 28 recorded gains.
Among the top gainers were Omatek, which rose by 9.86 percent to 78 kobo, and Red Star Express, which gained 9.62 percent to close at N8.32. Deap Capital Management was up 9.38 percent at N1.05, Sovereign Trust Insurance gained 9.09 percent to N1.08, and May & Baker advanced 8.26 percent to close at N11.80.
In terms of trading volume, 1.90 billion shares worth N64.14 billion were exchanged across 18,653 deals, a significant increase from 556.45 million shares valued at N17.17 billion in 18,505 transactions recorded on Thursday.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) led the activity chart, trading 1.41 billion shares worth N49.02 billion. It was followed by United Capital with 66.84 million shares valued at N1.32 billion, and Access Corporation, which sold 53.97 million shares for N1.19 billion.
Fidelity Bank traded 31.38 million shares worth N606.09 million, while Zenith Bank recorded 29.93 million shares worth N1.46 billion.
Despite earlier optimism, the week ended on a low note for investors as market sentiment turned bearish.
