The Nigerian equities market continued in a negative position on Wednesday as investors lost N74 billion amid sustained sell pressure across major stocks.

The decline was primarily driven by losses in RT Briscoe, ABC Transport, Skyway Aviation Handling Company, Vitafoam Haldane McCall and 49 other equities.

Consequently, the market capitalisation, which opened at N124.827 trillion, dropped by N75 billion or 0.06 per cent to close at N124.753 trillion.

Similarly, the All-Share Index fell by 0.06 per cent, or 114.41 points, to close at 194,370.20, compared to 194,484.61 recorded on Tuesday.

While the year-to-date return was 24.91 per cent, the market breadth closed negative with 54 losers against 22 gainers.

RT Briscoe and ABC Transport led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each, finishing at N10.35 and N6.75 per share.

Skyway Aviation Handling Company trailed by 9.98 per cent, closing at N139.35. Vitafoam and Haldane McCall went down by 9.93 per cent each, settling at N112.50 and N3.99 per share.

On the other hand, Jaiz Bank led the gainers’ chart by 9.95 per cent, ending the session at N14.03; Okomu Oil followed with 9.93 per cent, closing at N1,765, and Trans-Nationwide Express added 9.77 per cent, finishing at N2.36 per share.

Fortis Global Insurance increased by 9.72 per cent, settling at 79k, while Champion Breweries soared by 5.39 per cent, closing at N17.60 per share.

A total of 1.4 billion shares valued at N46.2 billion were traded across 70,222 transactions.

This is in contrast with 1.1 billion shares worth N53.4 billion that were exchanged across 72,218 deals earlier on Tuesday.

This revealed a decline in market deals and value, with an increase in volume.

Fortis Global Insurance recorded the highest volume with 193.69 million shares traded, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the day’s total volume.

Zenith Bank recorded the highest value at N11.07 billion, accounting for 24.40 per cent of the day’s value traded.

(NAN)