By Taiye Olayemi
Nigeria’s equity market closed the week with a mixed performance on Friday, as gains in market capitalisation contrasted with a continued dip in the All-Share Index.
Market capitalisation rose by 0.19 per cent, adding ₦130 billion to settle at ₦68.751 trillion from Thursday’s ₦68.621 trillion.
The gain was largely attributed to the listing of additional shares from United Bank for Africa (UBA) on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).
Despite the increase in capitalisation, the All-Share Index (ASI) slipped for the third consecutive session, shedding 154.40 points or 0.14 per cent to close at 109,028.62, down from 109,183.02.
The market recorded a positive breadth, with 30 stocks gaining against 22 decliners.
Among the top gainers, Red Star Express jumped 10 per cent to close at ₦6.71, while University Press rose by 9.82 per cent to ₦4.36. ABC Transport climbed 9.69 per cent to ₦2.49, McNicholas gained 9.05 per cent to ₦2.29, and Lasaco Assurance advanced 8.47 per cent to ₦2.69 per share.
On the losers’ table, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills plunged by 9.97 per cent to ₦118.70, and Transcorp Hotel fell 9.95 per cent to ₦138.50.
Learn Africa dropped 9.89 per cent to ₦4.01, Legend Internet lost 9.52 per cent to ₦7.60, while Sovereign Trust Insurance declined 8.57 per cent to 96k.
Investors traded 637.54 million shares valued at ₦18.12 billion in 15,927 deals—down from Thursday’s volume of 1.65 billion shares worth ₦19.10 billion across 26,176 deals.
Tantalizer led activity with 145.08 million shares valued at ₦384.45 million, followed by Fidelity Bank with 85.57 million shares worth ₦1.56 billion. Nigerian Breweries traded 47.53 million shares at ₦2.57 billion, while GTCO exchanged 29.38 million shares worth ₦2.05 billion. UBA accounted for 45.14 million shares valued at ₦1.54 billion.
Commenting on the market’s mixed trend, Mr Aruna Kebira, Managing Director of Globalview Capital Ltd., explained that the rise in capitalisation was a result of UBA’s 6.8 billion unit rights issue, which raised its outstanding shares from 34.199 billion to 41.039 billion.
“The divergence between market capitalisation and the ASI reflects the new share injection rather than active trading,” Kebira noted.
He added that the recent ASI decline was expected, as the market had been bullish for some time, prompting investors to take profits—particularly on stocks marked down for dividends and scrip issues.
