The Nigerian stock market closed the week on a negative note on Friday with key performance indicators dropping by 0.56 per cent.

The market capitalisation dropped by N516 billion, or 0.56 per cent, closing at N92.214 trillion, down from N92.730 trillion recorded on Thursday.

Also, the All-Share Index shed by 815.80 points or 0.56 per cent, closing at 145,754.91 from the previous close of 146,570.71.

The downward trend was driven by profit-taking in stocks such as Abbey Mortgage Bank, Custodian Investment Plc, Deap Capital Management, The Initiates and 25 others.

However, the market breadth closed positive with 42 gainers and 29 losers.

Champion Breweries led the gainers’ chart, soaring by 10 per cent, ending the session at N14.4, while Union Dicon Salt also grew by 10 per cent, settling at N9.90 per share.

Universal Insurance rose by 10 per cent, finishing at N1.10, and Guiness Nigeria gained by 9.99 per cent, closing at N155.75 per share.

AXA Mansard climbed by 9.99 per cent, settling at N14.64 per share.

On the losers’ chart, Abbey Mortgage Bank declined by 9.87 per cent, closing at N6.30, while Custodian Investment Plc fell by 8.48 per cent, finishing at N40.45 per share.

Deap Capital Management shed by 7.53 per cent, ending the session at N1.35 and The Initiates Plc dipped by 7.34 per cent, finishing at N12 per share.

Also, the Nigerian Police Force Microfinance Bank lost by 7.25 per cent, closing at N3.20 per share.

A total of 2.21 billion shares worth N32.4 billion were traded across 35,036 transactions.

This is in contrast with 1.98 billion shares valued at N27.3 billion earlier exchanged across 35,291 deals. Transactions in the shares of Linkage Assurance led the activity chart with 585.6 million shares worth N1.17 billion.

Universal Insurance followed with 213.19 million shares valued at N234.5 million while AIICO Insurance sold 178.5 million shares worth N618.1 million. Mutual Benefits Assurance transacted 137.84 million shares valued at N402.46 million and Sterling Nigeria traded 115.27 million shares worth N927.4 million.

Reacting to the development, Vice President of Highcap Securities, David Adonri, said the market declined as investors shifted their focus to insurance stocks.

He said this came shortly after President Bola Tinubu signed the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA 2025) into law, noting that the initial surge in demand for insurance stocks soon lost steam as the momentum proved unsustainable.

He stated, “The market had been bullish for a while due to price-sensitive information, as companies declared their half-year results, until President Tinubu assented to the NIIRA 2025, when investors began to embrace insurance stocks. Unfortunately, they could not sustain the rush. Investors need to know that no rally in the market is sustained indefinitely. What happened today is absolutely normal.’’

(NAN)