Nigerian stocks end week lower with benchmark index paring 0.71% w-o-w as U.S tax progress buoys world stocks

Nigerian equities Friday depreciated 0.16 percent to close benchmark index at 36,587.31 points as against 36,848.17 points recorded last week, which represents 0.71 percent depreciation week-on-week.

This is just as world stock markets pushed higher Friday after the passing of a budget resolution in the U.S. The Senate stoked hopes that President Donald Trump’s tax reform package will be enacted.

On the Nigerian bourse, Friday’s performance was lower that the one basis point appreciation recorded previously.

Market capitalization at the close of trading settled at N12.593 trillion, down by

0.71 percent from the N12.683 trillion it stood last Friday

The volume of shares traded was 106.546 million units, while value of stocks traded was N1.883 billion

Top gainers include INTERBREW (4.49%), CCNN (0.49%), CUTIX (0.23%), UBA (0.15%) and TRANSCORP (0.07%).

Top losers were NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.98%), FO (-1.35%), UACN (-0.84%) ETI (-0.4%) and DANGCEM (-0.39%).

Wall Street traded above closing records on Friday, Oct. 20, after the Senate voted for a budget blueprint that paves the way for major tax cuts.

The Dow was up 0.3 percent, the S&P 500 added 0.27 percent and the Nasdaq increased 0.4 percent. Gains put the S&P 500 and Dow on track for another day of records after closing at all-time highs a day earlier. The Nasdaq was trading above a record close set on Wednesday, Oct. 18.