Trading on the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) closed the week on a bearish note Friday, as investors lost N64 billion.

The decline was driven by profit-taking in stocks such as Multiverse Mining, Livingtrust Mortgage Bank, Etranzact, Haldane McCall and Sovereign Trust Insurance, alongside 16 other declining equities.

Specifically, market capitalisation declined by N64 billion, representing a 0.04 per cent loss, from N164.859 trillion at the opening to N164.795 trillion at the close.

Similarly, the All-Share Index fell by 97.64 points, or 0.04 per cent, from 252,366.80 to 252,269.16.

Consequently, the market’s year-to-date (YTD) return erased to 62.11 per cent.

The market breadth closed positively with 22 gainers and 21 losers.

Caverton Offshore Support Group topped the gainers’ table by 10 per cent, closing at N4.40 per share.

This is followed by Fortis Global Insurance, gaining by 9.93 per cent, finishing at N1.66, while Austinlaz grew by 9.91 per cent, ending the session at N2.44 per share.

Similarly, Lasaco Assurance rose by 9.20 per cent, settling at N1.90 and Veritas Kapital Assurance soared by nine per cent, closing at N1.09 per share.

On the flip side, Multiverse Mining led the losers’ table by 9.90 per cent, ending the session at N17.30, Livingtrust Mortgage Bank dropped by 9.69 per cent, settling at N2.33, while Etranzact shed by 8.11 per cent, finishing at N17 per share.

Also, Haldane McCall dipped by 4.58 per cent, closing at N3.33, and Sovereign Trust Insurance fell by 3.52 per cent, settling at N2.19 per share.

Meanwhile, trading activity strengthened during the session, with 3.70 billion shares exchanged in 27,205 deals, valued at N23.11 billion.

This represents a 26.86 per cent increase in volume.

Linkage Assurance dominated trading by volume, accounting for 3.10 billion shares or 83.90 per cent of total shares traded.

First Holdco led in value with transactions worth N7.33 billion, representing 31.71 per cent of the total value. 

(NAN)