The Nigerian equities market closed in negative territory on Wednesday, reversing some of the gains from the previous session.
The benchmark index lost 0.07%, closing at 68,334.68 basis points.
At the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), the bearish sentiment was primarily driven by investors booking profits in key stocks, including Dangote Sugar, Guaranty Trust Holding Company, Nascon, and United Bank for Africa.
These profit-taking activities resulted in declines of 4.79%, 1.77%, 0.41%, and 0.33%, respectively, in the value of their shares.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +2.6% and +33.2%, respectively. Equity investors saw a cumulative loss of N26.49 billion in their investments as market capitalization settled at N37.37 trillion.
Market breadth, as measured by the number of advancing and declining stocks, remained positive. Thirty-two tickers gained ground, while twenty recorded losses.
READ ALSO: $460,000 forfeiture:PEPC says not evidence of conviction against Tinubu
On the performance board, Guinea Insurance and Beta Glass were the top gainers, with their share values appreciating by 10.0% and 9.9%, respectively.
Conversely, Vitafoam and Veritas Kapital experienced significant losses, with their share values declining by 10.0% and 7.7%, respectively.
Despite the overall market decline, three of the five sub-gauges showed positive performance. The NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, and NGX Oil/Gas indexes rose by 0.27%, 0.43%, and 0.17%, respectively.
On the other hand, the NGX Consumer Goods index fell by 0.82%, while the NGX Oil/Gas index remained unchanged.
READ ALSO: 2023/2024 Nigeria Premier League kick-off has been postponed – Board
Analyzing market activities revealed that trade turnover decreased compared to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 46.30%. A total of 378.65 million shares, valued at N5.48 billion, were exchanged in 7,671 deals.
Oando led the volume chart with 83.53 million units traded, while Dangote Cement led in terms of value, with deals worth N708.71 million.