Nigerian stocks extend losses as Index drops by 2.45%

Nigerian stocks extended falls for a third straight day on Friday, down 2.45 per cent as investors booked profits following a recent rally, notably in the relatively liquid banking sector.
The market All-Share Index (NSE ASI) and the Market Capitalization decreased by 2.45 per cent, while the year-to-date return stood at 19.53 per cent.
The All-Share Index closed at 32,122.14 against the previous close of 32,928.44 while Market Capitalization closed at ₦11.108 trillion against previous close of ₦11.387 trillion.
Volume traded decreased by 18.09 per cent from 509.764 million to 417.568 million, while the total value of stock traded decreased by 35.52 per cent from ₦5.035 billion to ₦3.247 billion in 5,456 deals.
The Financial Services sector led the activity chart with 282.018 million shares exchanged for ₦2.159 billion. Conglomerates came next with 72.37 million shares traded for ₦0.11 billion, Agriculture, Healthcare, Consumer Goods sectors followed in that order on the activity chart.
Transcorp, Access, FBNH, FCMB and Zenithbank were the most active stocks by volume. Champion, Neimeth, Cileasing, Ashakacem and Transcohot emerged the highest price gainers on the chart, while UBA, Wemabank, Transcorp, Flourmill and Okomuoil topped the losers chart.