The bears dominated the domestic equity market as market capitalisation lost N20 billion or 0.08 per cent, to close at N23.971 trillion compared with N23.991 trillion recorded on Wednesday.

Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) lost 35.72 basis points or 0.08 per cent to settled at 44,011.22 from 44,046.94 on Wednesday.

The market’s weak performance was primarily driven by sell-offs in Tier-one banks such as Zenith Bank, Access Holding and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO).

Market breadth closed negative as 18 stocks declined while 12 advanced.

Unilever followed with a gain 10 per cent to close at N11, while Stanbic Bank appreciated by 9.09 per cent to close at N30 per share, and UPL went up by 8.93 per cent to close at N1.83 per share.

Also, Sovereign Trust Insurance rose by 8.33 per cent to close at 26k, while Royal Exchange Assurance appreciated by 6.85 per cent to close at 78k per share.

On the other hand, Guinness Nigeria led the losers’ chart by 9.97 per cent to close at N60.50 per share.

SCOA followed with a decline of 9.79 per cent to close at N1.29 and ABC Transport shed eight per cent to close at 23k per share.

United Capital lost 5.83 per cent to close at N11.30, while Oando shed 5.76 per cent to close at N3.60 per share.

An analysis of market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 70.36 per cent.

A total of 97.70 million shares valued at N847.88 million were exchanged in 2,980 deals.

NAN