Taiye Baiyerohi

The Nigerian equities market closed the week on a bearish note on Friday as profit-taking across several stocks wiped N257 billion from investors’ wealth.

Data from the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) showed that market capitalisation fell by 0.16 per cent to N156.623 trillion, compared with N156.880 trillion recorded at the previous close.

The All-Share Index (ASI) also declined by 398.18 points, representing a 0.16 per cent drop, to close at 242,619.20, against 243,017.38 on Thursday.

The decline was largely driven by sell-offs in Fortis Global Insurance, Omatek Ventures, John Holt, RT Briscoe and Dangote Sugar, alongside 25 other decliners.

Despite Friday’s downturn, the market’s year-to-date return remained strong at 55.91 per cent.

Market breadth, however, closed positive, with 21 stocks recording gains against 30 decliners.

Fortis Global Insurance led the losers’ table, declining by 9.31 per cent to close at N2.63 per share.

Omatek Ventures followed with a 9.04 per cent decline to N1.51, while John Holt shed 9 per cent to close at N9.10.

RT Briscoe fell by 7.94 per cent to N11.60, while Dangote Sugar declined by 7.79 per cent to N64.55 per share.

On the gainers’ side, International Energy Insurance led with a 9.92 per cent increase to N5.32 per share.

Trans-Nationwide Express rose by 9.65 per cent to N2.84, while Guinea Insurance gained 6.67 per cent to close at 80 kobo.

Regency Alliance Insurance also appreciated by 6.25 per cent to 85 kobo, while Ja Paul Gold advanced by 5.36 per cent to N2.95 per share.

Trading activity weakened significantly during the session, with total volume declining by 66.64 per cent to 1.41 billion shares.

The transactions, conducted across 39,134 deals, were valued at N45.31 billion.

Fortis Global Insurance dominated trading volume, recording 874.08 million shares, which represented 61.83 per cent of the total volume traded.

MTN Nigeria accounted for the highest transaction value, with trades worth N31.37 billion, representing 69.24 per cent of the day’s total value.

The Friday decline brought the week to a softer close for equities investors, although the market retained a substantial year-to-date gain of 55.91 per cent.