News Investigators/ The equity market reversed its bullish trend on Wednesday, recording a loss of N186 billion.
Selloffs in major stocks such as MTN Nigeria, Aradel Holdings, Dangote Sugar and Nigerian Breweries drove the market into negative territory.
The market capitalisation of listed equities dropped by N186 billion, or 0.29 per cent, from N63.333 trillion to close at N63.157 trillion.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.29 per cent, shedding 302 points to close at 102,836.13 compared to 103,137.99 on Tuesday.
Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return fell to 0.09 per cent.
Market breadth remained flat, with 24 stocks recording gains and 24 posting losses.
On the losers’ chart, Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc led by 9.87 per cent to close at N10.05, May & Baker trailed by 9.78 per cent to close at N8.30 per share.
Prestige Assurance lost 7.69 per cent to close at N1.31, Guinea Insurance shed 7.45 per cent to close at 87k, Red Star Express also went down by 4.75 per cent to close at 4.81 per share.
Conversely, SCOA Nigeria led the gainers’ chart by 9.70 per cent to close at N3.28, Cadbury Nigeria Plc followed by 9.65 per cent to close at N25 per share.
Secure Electronic Technology Plc gained 9.59 per cent to close at 80k, C&I Leasing added 5.85 per cent to close at N4.34 and FTN Cocoa Processors rose by 5.41 per cent to close at N1.95 per share.
On a breakdown of activities, trade turnover, however, settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 26.61 per cent.
A total of 394.82 million shares valued at N15.16 billion were exchanged in 10,766 deals, compared with 440.32 million shares valued at N11.97 billion traded in 13,087 deals, posted in the previous session.
Access Corporation led the activity chart in volume with 92 million shares exchanged across 403 trades, while Geregu Power dominated in value of N5.2 billion.
NAN
