Price losses in 24 stocks down equities market by 0.02%

Trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed the week on a negative note as All-Share Index dropped 0.02 per cent to close at 26,325.93 basis points

Investors thus lost N1.5 billion on Friday as market capitalization settled at N9.058 trillion. Market breadth, however, improved as 20 companies recorded gains against 24 that recorded losses.

Mobil led the decliners, with five per cent to close at N249.86, Julius Berger dropped 4.99 per cent to close at N34.83, Cutix and UAC-Prop depreciated 4.91 per cent each to close at N1.55 and N2.71 respectively and Presco closed N42.16 following a loss of 4.59 per cent.

On the flip side ‎Diamond Bank led on the gainers table by 8.82 per cent to close at N1.11, Tourist Company followed with an increase of 4.84 per cent to close at N3.68.

Fidson grew 4.50 per cent to close at N1.16, May and Baker appreciated 4.08 per cent to close at N1.02, and Stanbic gained 3.26 per cent to close at N15.52.

Volume of trade transacted by investors dropped to 148.6 million units from 179.4 million units traded in previous session, while value traded increased to N3.8 billion from N1.5 billion. The day’s business was transacted in 2,653 deals in contrast to 2,928 deals recorded previously.

Nigerian Breweries topped the activity chart for the day, with the sale of 19.6 million units of shares worth N2.7 billion. Fidelity Bank followed with 16.97 million shares worth N15.2 million, while Diamond Bank emerged the third most traded stock for the day with 13.0 million shares amounting to N14.3 million. UCAP came fourth having traded 10.99 million units of shares valued at N35.8 million while Transcorp was fifth with 10.1 million shares worth N8.9 million.