The equities market reversed its bullish trend on Wednesday, shedding N41 billion after four consecutive days of gains.
Selloffs in key stocks pushed the market into negative territory. Stocks under pressure included Beta Glass, Academy Press, Computer Warehouse Group, Learn Africa, UPDCREIT and 24 other equities.
Market capitalisation fell by N41 billion, or 0.03 per cent, from N158.955 trillion to close at N158.914 trillion.
Similarly, the All-Share Index declined by 0.03 per cent, shedding 63.46 points to close at 246,019.17. This dragged the market Year-To-Date return to 58.10 per cent.
However, market breadth closed positive with 33 gainers and 29 losers.
Tripple Gee led the gainers’ chart, rising by 10 per cent to close at N2.86. Sovereign Trust Insurance followed with a gain of 9.71 per cent to close at N2.26, while Oando advanced by 9.43 per cent to finish at N38.30 per share.
McNichols also gained 9.09 per cent to close at N5.40, while NEM Insurance rose by 7.99 per cent to settle at N34.45 per share.
On the losers’ table, Beta Glass led with a decline of 9.99 per cent to close at N506.60. Academy Press followed with a drop of 9.76 per cent to N5.55, while Computer Warehouse Group lost 9.35 per cent to close at N19.40 per share.
Learn Africa dipped by 9.20 per cent to N7.90, and UPDCREIT shed 6.30 per cent to close at N12.65 per share.
Market activity weakened during the session. Total volume fell by 34.47 per cent to 426.84 million shares, valued at N28.44 billion across 41,475 deals.
Access Corporation led in volume with 33.22 million shares traded, representing 7.78 per cent of total activity, while Aradel topped the value chart with N4.14 billion, accounting for 14.55 per cent of total value traded.
