The Nigerian equities market closed in the red zone on Friday to record four straight trading sessions of losses in the first week of March.
The total value of stocks traded by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Friday rose by 188.31 per cent to N13.62tn amid sustained bearish activity.
At the close of the day’s trading, total volume of trade rose by 19.18 per cent to 587.74 million units exchanged in 4,895 deals.
As a result, the All-Share Index fell by 0.08 per cent to 39,331.61 points, even as the market capitalisation also dipped by 0.08 per cent to close at N20.58tn.
At the close of the day’s trading, investors lost N17.3bn as the market recorded 27 losers and 20 gainers.
The year-to-date loss of the ASI worsened to 2.3 per cent.
On sectoral performance, the oil and gas topped the indices chart, moderating by 5.31 per cent as the share price of bellwether stocks such as Seplat Petroleum declined by 7.39 per cent.
Also, the share prices of Oando and Guaranty Trust Bank fell by 8.62 per cent and 1.59 per cent respectively.
The banking and consumer goods indices waned by 0.53 per cent and 0.16 per cent respectively.
On the positive territory, the insurance and industrial indices rose by 0.78 per cent and 0.55 per cent respectively.
