The Nigerian equities market closed lower on Friday as investors lost N13 billion following profit-taking in several medium and large-cap stocks.
The decline was driven by sell-offs in Fortis Global Insurance, CAP Plc, Veritas Kapital Assurance, Vitafoam Nigeria, The Initiates Plc and 24 other equities.
Market capitalisation dipped by N13 billion, or 0.01 per cent, to close at N158.326 trillion, compared with N158.339 trillion on Thursday.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 78.58 points, or 0.03 per cent, to close at 245,283.68, against 245,362.26 recorded in the previous session.
Consequently, the market’s year-to-date return moderated to 57.62 per cent.
However, with the bearish close, market breadth remained positive with 34 gainers against 29 losers, indicating sustained buying interest in a broad range of stocks.
Eterna, Consolidated Hallmark Holdings, AVA Capital Plc and Regency Alliance Insurance topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent appreciation each to close at N33.00, N8.36, N8.25 and 88 kobo per share, respectively.
McNichols Plc also gained 9.52 per cent to close at N5.75 per share.
On the losers’ table, Fortis Global Insurance fell by 10 per cent to close at N2.34, while CAP Plc declined by 9.97 per cent to N128.25 per share.
Veritas Kapital Assurance lost 9.49 per cent to close at N1.43, Vitafoam Nigeria shed 7.70 per cent to N179.80, while The Initiates Plc declined by 6.67 per cent to N28.00 per share.
Trading activity weakened, with total volume traded dropping by 55.14 per cent to 942.97 million shares worth N46.74 billion in 55,480 deals.
AVA Capital Plc emerged as the most traded stock by volume with 341.16 million shares, representing 36.18 per cent of the total volume traded.
Seplat Energy Plc led the value chart with transactions worth N16.26 billion, accounting for 34.79 per cent of the day’s total turnover.
