Nigerian stocks retreated by 1.37 per cent on Friday, obliterating the feeble gain recorded at the session before as a number of big-cap stocks like MTN, Dangote Cement and BUA Cement took a hit from profit-taking efforts.
The industrial goods index was the worst hit of the five sectorial indices, dipping by 4.40 per cent to 1,873.17 points.The all-share index closed lower by 532.45 points at 38,382.39 points while market capitalisation fell by N278.579 billion to N20.082 trillion.Ikeja Hotel led gainers, appreciating by 10 per cent to close at N1.10. Eterna added 9.84 per cent to end trade at N5.58. UCAP advanced by 7.37 per cent to N5.10. Union Bank rose to N5.30, notching up 4.95 per cent in the process.
Zenith was the most active stock with 66.100 million of its shares worth N1.481 billion traded in 683 deals. 51.814 million units of Unity Bank shares priced at N37.310 million exchanged hands in 13 transactions. GTB had 39.386 million shares valued at N1.228 billion million traded in 668 deals. Aiico traded 26.843 million shares estimated at N33.223 million in 89 transactions. Access traded 12.700 million shares valued at N101.076 million in 182 deals.