Nigerian bourse: Profit taking down index by 0.96% Friday

Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended the week on Friday on a bearish note with the market All-Share Index down by 0.96 per cent as a result of profit taking by investors. The index which opened at 31,984.69 lost 305.90 points or 0.96 per cent to close at 31,678.70.

The market capitalisation equally shed N111 billion or 0.96 per cent to close at N11.565 trillion against N11.676 trillion on Thursday.

Dangote Cement recorded the highest price loss to lead the laggards’ table, decreasing by N5 to close at N195 per share. It was trailed by the Nigerian Breweries with a loss of N1.90 to close at N8.50, while Stanbic IBTC was down by N1 to close at N49 per share.

Lafarge Africa dipped N1 to close at N14, Flour Mills lost 65k to close at N19.80 per share.

On the other hand, CAP led the gainers’ table growing by N2.60 to close at N29.20 per share while PZ Cussons followed with a gain of 95k to close at N10.65, even as UACN gained 40k to close at N9.90 per share.

Guaranty Trust Bank added 40k to close at N36.40, while Northern Nigeria Flour Mills increased by 30k to close at N5.30 per share.

Diamond Bank was the most active stock, exchanging 113.31 million shares worth N102.01 million.

Nigerian Breweries followed with an account of 15.29 million shares valued at N1.29 billion, while Zenith International bank traded 13.80 million shares cost N331.34 million.

FBN Holdings exchanged 11. 85 million shares worth N90.05 million, while Access Bank sold 11.59 million shares valued at N86.59 million.

In all, the volume of shares closed lower with an exchange of 223.84 million shares worth N2.64 billion in 2,819 deals as against the 672.56 million shares valued at N15.22 billion traded in 2,436 deals.