Kelechukwu Mgboji 
It was a bloody day of long knives as Sterling Financial Holdings Plc, escaped with two percentage gain over other lenders to close at N4.08 per share.
Across various sectors of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), 28 stocks posted losses with R.T Briscoe (-10%), FTN Cocoa (-9.80), and Oando (-9.65%) leading the losers’ table while 19 stocks recorded modest gains.
Consequently, NGX Banking Index fell 6.96 points or 0.8 per cent to 851.39 points, down from 858.35 in previous session on Wednesday. The All Share Index, NGX key performance indicator, dipped by 327.28 basis points or -0.34 per cent to 96,210.20 points, down from 96,537.48 points.
The market capitalisation dipped by similar percentage or N188 billion to N55.265 trillion, down from N55.453 trillion. As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled lower at -0.4 per cent and +28.7 per cent, respectively.
But Financial Services sector was not alone in market poor performance. In the Consumer Goods sector, Cutix Plc fell -3.33 per cent while all other stocks in the sector recorded no price changes.
In the Oil & Gas sector, share price of Oando dipped by -9.65 per cent to N74.0 per share, behind the highest losers for the day which is R.T Briscoe (-10%) and FTN Cocoa (-9.80%).
The total volume of trades decreased by 0.2 per cent to 388.62 million units, valued at N9.57 billion, and exchanged in 9,897 deals. Zenith Bank was the most traded stock by volume at 56.56 million units, while Oando remained the most traded stock by value at N3.19 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Banking (-0.8%) and Consumer Goods (-0.4%) indices posted losses, while the Insurance (+0.1%) and Oil & Gas (+0.1%) indices gained. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.
