By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
The equities market closed on a negative note on Friday as the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 7 basis points to close at 247,539.73 points, dragging the Year-to-Date (YTD) return to 59.07%.
The losses in the market were driven by further selloffs in the banking sector, led by STANBIC, GTCO, and ZENITHBANK.
In terms of market activity, both volume and value traded decreased by 10.12% and 14.50% to 257.67 million units and N13.04 billion, respectively.
UBA led trading by volume for the second consecutive session, with 28.29 million units traded, followed by ZENITHBANK with 16.54 million units and LIVESTOCK with 16.42 million units.
ZENITHBANK led in terms of value traded, with N2.09 billion traded, followed by GTCO with N1.82 billion and ARADEL with N1.28 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as 2 of the 5 sectors under coverage recorded declines, while 1 advanced and 2 remained relatively flat.
The NGX Consumer Goods Index was the only gainer, advancing by 8bps, while the NGX Oil & Gas and NGX Industrial indices closed relatively flat.
On the other hand, the NGX Banking Index led the decliners, shedding 94bps, followed by the NGX Insurance Index, which declined by 5bps.
