The bears tightened their grip of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday after the platform further depreciated by 0.19 per cent.
Like the preceding session, investor sentiment remained bearish as the bourse finished with 19 price gainers and 31 price losers due to continued profit-taking.
John Holt ended the day as the worst-performing equity after it lose 10.00 per cent to settle at N6.30, Lasaco Assurance declined by 9.64 per cent to N3.00, Guinea Insurance shed 7.79 per cent to trade at N1.42, Universal Insurance tumbled by 6.25 per cent to N1.20, and Secure Electronic Technology dipped by 5.56 per cent to 85 Kobo.
On the flip side, Learn Africa was the best-performer after it chalked up 9.86 per cent to quote at N7.80, Union Dicon appreciated by 8.04 per cent to N12.10, Prestige Assurance gained 6.75 per cent to N1.74, Academy Press jumped by 6.11 per cent to N9.55, and Omatek improved by 6.06 per cent to N1.40.
It was observed that the financial services landscape was under selling pressure yesterday, with the insurance arm losing 1.54 per cent and the banking space surrendering 0.88 per cent to profit-takers.
Also, the energy index was down by 0.51 per cent, and the industrial goods industry gave up a marginal 0.01 per cent, while the consumer goods sector gained 0.14 per cent, with the commodity counter closing flat.
When Customs Street closed its doors for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 261.75 points to 140,295.49 points from 140,557.24 points and the market capitalisation recoiled by N166 billion to N88.769 trillion from N88.935 trillion.
A total of 435.1 million shares valued at N10.4 billion exchanged hands in 25,609 deals on Friday compared with the 885.0 million shares worth N28.3 billion transacted in 26,163 deals on Thursday, showing a decrease in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 50.84 per cent, 63.25 per cent, and 2.12 per cent, respectively.
VFD Group topped the activity chart with 49.3 million stocks valued at N542.2 million, Secure Electronic Technology transacted 33.2 million shares worth N28.8 million, Access Holdings exchanged 26.9 million equities for N717.0 million, GTCO traded 21.3 million shares worth N2.0 billion, and First Holdco sold 19.9 million stocks valued at N646.7 million.