Equities market sustained a downward trend on Wednesday as the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index contracted by 0.44 per cent to 39,522.06 points.
Amid the persisting bearish activity, the market capitalisation also moderated by 0.44 per cent to close at N20.68tn.
At the close of the day’s trade, the domestic bourse recorded 30 losers and 16 gainers, even as investors lost N91.86bn.
The Year-to-Date loss of the ASI increased to -1.85 per cent.
Also, the market recorded sell-offs on blue-chip stocks such as MTN Nigeria, Lafarge Africa and Zenith Bank, as their share prices fell by 2.30 per cent 7.14 per cent and 0.39 per cent respectively.
While the banking index closed flat, three of the remaining four indices tracked closed in the red zone. The trio include insurance, consumer goods and industrial indices, which fell by 0.86 per cent, 0.45 per cent and 0.41 per cent.
However, the oil and gas index rose by 5.02 per cent amid gains on SEPLAT Petroleum shares.
Meanwhile, trading activity was mixed. While total deals and volume of stocks rose, the value of stocks fell.
Thus, the total volume of trades rose by 9.78 per cent to 244.34 million units valued at N4.13bn in 4,714 deals.
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