By RUKUYAT ADEYEMI
The stock market continued its bearish trend on Wednesday, with a N57 billion loss from investors’ portfolios.
Selloffs in Tier-one banking stocks, including Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Access Corporation, and Fidelity Bank, among others, drove the market into negative territory.
Specifically, the market capitalisation fell by N57 billion, or 0.10 per cent, from N56.076 trillion to N56.019 trillion.
Similarly, the All-Share Index dropped by 0.10 per cent, losing 98 points to close at 97,487.14 points, compared to 97,584.81 points recorded on Tuesday.
As a result, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return decreased to 30.38 per cent.
The market breadth also closed negative, with 38 losers and 15 gainers.
EllahLakes led the losers’ table by 48k to close at N4.40, ABC Transport trailed by 13k to close at N1.22 and Eterna dropped N2.30 to close at N24.70 per share.
C&I Leasing lost 34k to close at N3.71 and Livestock Feed went down by 30k to close at N3.44 per share.
Conversely, Lasaco Assurance led the gainers’ table by 23k to close at N2.53, Mecure followed by 80k to close at N9.25, Julius Berger gained N14 to close at N164 per share.
Regency Alliance Insurance also added 5k to close at 60k, while Gold Breweries advanced by 25k to close at N3.40 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 16.65 per cent.
A total of 356.13 million shares valued at N6.95 billion were exchanged in 8,582 deals,in contrast to 719.11 million shares valued at N8.34 billion traded in 9,435 deals, posted previously.
Meanwhile, Fidelity Bank led the activity chart in volume with 66.24 million shares valued at N988.10 million, UBA followed with 38.04 million shares worth N1.03 billion, to lead the chart in value.
Sterling Nigeria sold 33.79 million shares valued at N179.59 million, Nigerian Breweries traded 14.56 million shares worth N435.65 million and Oando Plc transacted 13.12 million shares worth N934.24 million.
