Trading closes red on NSE, investors lose N279bn

The nation’s bourse closed trading on Friday in red with key market indices dropping by 1.37 per cent, amid losses by blue chips.
Specifically, the market capitalisation lost N279 billion within six trading hours to close at N20.081 trillion from N20.360 trillion recorded on Thursday.
Also, the All-Share Index dipped 532.45 points or 1.37 per cent to close at 38,382.39 from 38.914.84 achieved on Thursday.
Lasaco Insurance topped the losers’ chart in percentage terms, dropping by 6.92 per cent to close at N1.21 per share.
BUA Cement trailed with 6.42 per cent to close at N69.95, while Neimeth International Pharmaceutical shed 6.32 per cent to close at N1.78 per share.
Courteville dipped by 4.76 per cent to close at 20k, while Oando declined by 4.39 per cent to close at N3.05 per share.
On the other hand, Ikeja Hotel led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, growing by 10 per cent to close at N1.10 per share.
Eterna followed with a gain of 9.84 per cent to close at N5.58, while United Capital garnered 7.37 per cent to close at N5.10 per share.
Union Bank Nigeria added 4.95 per cent to close at N5.30, while Africa Prudential Registrars was up by 4.90 per cent to close at N5.35 per share.
Also, the volume of shares traded closed lower with 290.62 million shares valued at N4.02 billion in 4,311 deals.
This was against a total of 1.47 billion shares worth N5.85 billion exchanged in 4,040 deals on Thursday.
The banking stocks dominated the activity chart with Zenith Bank emerging the most active stock, exchanging 66.09 million shares valued at N1.48 billion.
Unity Bank followed with an account of 51.81 million shares worth N37.31 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 39.39 million valued at N1.23 billion.
AIICO Insurance sold 26.84 million shares worth N33.22 million, while Access Bank accounted for 12.69 million shares valued at N101.08 million.