The equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. on Friday appreciated by N40 billion.

Specifically, the market capitalisation closed for trading at N25.566 trillion, compared to N25.526 trillion on Thursday; an increase of N40 billion.

Also, the NGX All-Share Index appreciated by 0.16 per cent, increasing to 47,437.48 basis points, from 47,363.98 basis points recorded on Thursday.

The sustained bullish market sentiment in the sub-sector level indices recorded mixed directions.

The NGX Banking and the NGX Insurance indices rose by 0.34 percent and 0.28 per cent respectively.

However, the NGX Oil/Gas index fell by 0.35 per cent while the NGX Consumer Goods and the NGX Industrial indices closed flat.

Gains were recorded by 21 companies, while 21 also had losses.

Niger Insurance led the gainers chart, with 10 per cent, to close at 22 kobo, followed by R.T Briscoe that grew by 8.95 per cent to close at 73 kobo.

UPDC increased by 7.61 per cent to close at 99 kobo per share, while UACN gained 7.69 per cent to close at 74 kobo.

On the losers chart, Royal Exchange Assurance led with a drop of 9.7 per cent to close at N1.21, followed by ELLAHLAKES that depreciated by 9.57 per cent to close at N3.12.

Pharmdeko down by eight per cent to close at N1.84 as Linkage Insurance dropped by 7.14 per cent to close at 52 kobo.

In addition, Unilever shed 5.71 per cent to close on Friday at N13.20.

In terms of value, trading decreased by 56.97 per cent to close at N7.03 billion in 3,928 deals from N4.48 billion in 4,672 deals recorded on Thursday.

FCMB was the most traded stock in terms of volume, with 932.89 million units of shares worth N3.49 billion, followed by Zenith Bank traded stock of 29.94 million units of share worth about N805.65 million.

Access Bank sold 22.51 million units of shares worth N227.82 million, followed by Fidelity Bank traded 19,309,721 million units of share worth N55.16 million.

(NAN)