By Taiye Olayemi (NAN)
The Nigerian stock market ended the week in the red, bleeding ₦141 billion in market value as investor sell-offs in blue-chip stocks like MTN Nigeria and Oando dragged key indicators down by 0.21%.
The All-Share Index fell by 224.91 points to close at 104,563.34, compared to Thursday’s 104,788.25, while market capitalisation tumbled from ₦65.847 trillion to ₦65.706 trillion.
Despite the downturn, market sentiment remained slightly upbeat with 36 gainers outshining 20 laggards.
Caverton Offshore led the gainers’ pack, surging 9.96% to ₦2.54, closely followed by VFD Group at ₦87.70 (+9.90%), ABBEY Mortgage Bank (+9.86%), FTN Cocoa (+9.83%), and Regency Alliance Insurance (+9.43%).
On the losers’ board, Deap Capital nosedived 9.71% to 93k, Royal Exchange dipped 9.09% to 80k, and Sovereign Trust Insurance fell 7.61% to 85k, while Oando dropped 5.57% to ₦39.00 per share.
Trading volume also took a hit, as 379.95 million shares valued at ₦10.10 billion exchanged hands in 10,791 deals, down from Thursday’s 432.56 million shares in 12,027 trades.
Access Corporation led the activity chart, moving 73.22 million shares valued at over ₦1.5 billion, followed by Zenith Bank, CUTIX, GTCO, and Fidelity Bank.
Commenting on the market’s movement, Aruna Kebira of Global View Capital Ltd. said the dip followed a short-lived rebound. Meanwhile, Eyitola Adu, Director at Morgan Capital Securities Ltd., remained optimistic, pointing out signs of recovery in banking stocks, with the Oil & Gas sector maintaining its bullish streak.
