By Chris Ndibe
The volume of shares traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday dropped by 19.88 per cent, just as the market indices declined further.
Specifically, investors traded 144.31 million shares worth N1.52 billion achieved in 3,993 deals.
This was in contrast with 180.12 million shares valued at N1.85 billion exchanged in 3,889 deals on Thursday.
An analysis of the activity chart shows that Guaranty Trust Bank was the most active stock, exchanging 29.15 million shares worth N606.96 million.
Zenith Bank came second with an account of 27.23 million shares valued at N416.77 million, while Transcorp traded 8.88 million shares worth N5.50 million.
FBN Holdings accounted for 8.29 million shares valued at N41.96 million, while Fidelity Bank sold 7.25 shares worth N12.27 million.
In the same vein, the All-Share lost 38.28 points or 0.16 per cent to close at 24,336.12 compared with 24,374.40 recorded on Thursday.
Also, the market capitalisation of listed equities which opened at N12.715 trillion shed N20 billion or 0.16 per cent to close at N12.695 trillion.
Nigerian Breweries topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N2.05 to close at N34.05 per share.
Julius Berger trailed with a loss of N1.50 to close at N18.35, UACN dipped 80k to close at N7.20 per share.
Redstar Express was down by 33k to close at N2.97, while NASCON lost 20k to close at N10 per share.
Conversely, Zenith Bank recorded the highest price gain to lead the gainers’ table, gaining 45k to close at N15.25 per share.
Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 10k to close at N20.80, while Ikeja Hotel garnered 9k to close at N1.02 per share.
FCMB Group improved by 4k to close at N1.80, while Wema Bank gained 3k to close at 55k per share.