By Rukayat Adeyemi
The Nigerian stock market closed on a bearish note on Tuesday, losing N69bn due to sell-offs in large—and medium-capitalised stocks.
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) market capitalisation, which opened at N59.004trn, dropped by N69bn or 0.12 percent to N58.935trn, closing at N59.004trn.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 114 points, or 0.12 percent, closing at 97,260.75 points from 97,374.25 on Monday.
The downturn was driven by sell-offs in stocks such as Oando, Dangote Sugar, and Nestle Nigeria, among others.
This decline reduced the Year-To-Date (YTD) return to 30.07 per cent.
Market breadth was negative, with 29 losers and 20 gainers.
On the losers’ chart, VFD Group led by 10 percent to close at N40.50, while Royal Exchange trailed by 9.68 percent to close at 56k per share.
Oando declined 9.42 percent to close at N62.05, Thomas Wyatt Nigeria shed 8.85 percent to close at N1.75, and Dangote Sugar dropped 4.83 percent to close at N28.55 per share.
Conversely, Eunisell led the gainers’ chart by 9.98 percent to close at N9.92, and John Holt followed by 9.83 percent to close at N5.81 per share.
Sunu Assurances gained 9.71 percent to close at N2.26, Universal Insurance appreciated by 6.25 percent to close at 34k, and Regency Alliance Insurance added 4.17 percent to close at 50k per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed that trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 23.21 percent.
350.38 million shares valued at N9.26bn were exchanged in 10,224 deals, compared with 297.83 million shares valued at N7.52bn traded in 9,902 deals posted in the previous session.
Meanwhile, United Capital led the activity chart in volume with 76.76 million shares, while Aradel Holdings led the chart in value with deals worth N1.55bn.
