The equities market halted its bullish run on Wednesday, posting a loss of N444 billion after renewed selloffs hit several major stocks.
Sharp declines in Learn Africa, Cadbury, Meyer, UPDC, International Breweries and 24 other laggards pushed the market into negative territory.
The market capitalisation fell by N444 billion, or 0.49 per cent, to N90.996 trillion at the close.
The All-Share Index also shed 698.56 points, dropping by 0.49 per cent to 143,064.57 from Tuesday’s 143,763.13.
Consequently, the Year-To-Date return slipped to 39.00 per cent after the session’s downturn.
Despite the drop, the market breadth ended positive, with 29 gainers against 27 decliners.
AIICO Insurance led the gainers, rising 10 per cent to N3.52, followed by NCR Nigeria, which gained 9.96 per cent to N49.70.
Ikeja Hotel appreciated by 9.41 per cent to N25 per share, strengthening the list of top performers.
Prestige Assurance rose by 7.38 per cent to N1.60, while Sterling Nigeria advanced by 6.85 per cent to N7.80 per share.
Leean Africa led the losers, dropping 10 per cent to N5.22, while Cadbury declined 9.92 per cent to close at N53.10.
Meyer fell by 9.91 per cent to N14.55 per share, extending the day’s downward trend in consumer stocks.
UPDC slipped by 8.83 per cent to N5.47, while International Breweries fell 8.33 per cent to end at N11 per share.
Market analysis, however, showed improved activity across volume, value and the number of deals executed.
Investors traded 738.35 million shares worth N35.5 billion across 19,919 deals during the session.
This compared favourably with the previous 556.2 million shares worth N18.7 billion traded in 19,500 deals.
GTCO recorded the highest volume and value, exchanging 134.12 million shares valued at N11.57 billion.
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