Nigerian stocks contracted 0.34 per cent on Friday, a decline driven by investors showing more willingness to sell shares in Dangote Cement and GTCO than to hold them.to buy back 170 million units of its common stock next week, while GTCO continued on a free fall, which has seen it its long-held status of Nigeria’s biggest lender by market value to Zenith Bank.
Market sentiment, a gauge of investors’ sentiment towards trade, closed on a negative note, given that 17 losers were reported, compared to 14 gainers. Decreasing by 150.07 basis points, the all-share index closed at 44,454.67. Also, market capitalisation finished lower at N24 trillion.Fidson led gainers, growing by 9.65 per cent to close at N7.50. Julius Berger gained 3.64 per cent to close at N22.80. Sterling Bank rose by 3.29 per cent to N1.57. UPDC leapt to N1.18, notching up 2.61 per cent in the process. Regal Insurance completed the top 5, climbing up by 2.22 per cent to N0.46.Sunu Assurance led losers, declining by 8.81 per cent to N0.