The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index dropped by 0.02 per cent at the close of trading on Wednesday after 13 stocks closed in the red compared to 24 that appreciated.
Profit-taking in large-cap stocks ― International Breweries Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and United Bank for Africa ― was said to have caused the ASI to drop by two basis points to 32,375.12 bps.
The market capitalisation of listed equities fell to N11.819tn from N11.821tn on Tuesday.
A total of 190.353 million shares worth N1.773bn exchanged hands in 2,780 deals on Wednesday.
The equities market continued on its downward trend, after gaining N65bn on Tuesday.
The year-to-date loss settled at 15.3 per cent, with the NSE market value and the volume of transactions declining by 33.2 per cent and 29.6 per cent, respectively.
The highest gainers on Wednesday were Forte Oil Plc, Cement Company of North Nigeria Plc, Regency Assurance Plc, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc and Prestige Assurance Plc, which appreciated respectively by 10 per cent, 9.73 per cent, 9.09 per cent, 9.09 per cent and 8.77 per cent.
On the other hand, the losers’ chart was topped by AXA Mansard Insurance Plc, Capital Oil Plc, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc and International Breweries Plc, which declined by 9.65 per cent, eight per cent, 7.41 per cent, 6.25 per cent and 6.25 per cent, respectively.
The NSE sector indices showed that the performance across sectors remained bullish as three of five indices closed positive.
The oil and gas index emerged the highest gainer as bargain hunting in Forte Oil and Oando Plc pulled the index up by 1.1 per cent.
The banking and industrial goods indices gained 0.4 per cent each on the back of price appreciation in Union Bank Nigeria Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Cement Company of North Nigeria by 6.4 per cent, 0.9 per cent and 9.7 per cent, respectively.
On the flip side, the insurance index shed the most, declining by 1.3 per cent resulting from sell-offs in AXA Mansard and Cornerstone Insurance Plc, while the consumer goods index fell by 0.4 per cent as a result of sell pressures in International Breweries and PZ.
Commenting on the performance of the market, analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said, “We continue to observe improving sentiment in the market, which we opine results from investors positioning in fundamentally sound stocks. Despite the negative performance today, we expect the performance of the market to be uplifted by the close of the week on bargain-hunting activities.”
