The stock market closed on a negative note on Tuesday, reversing the gains recorded in the previous trading session as investors lost N599 billion.

This followed a day of bullish streak in the market.

The downturn was driven by selloffs in stocks such as Multiverse Mining, Livingtrust Mortgage Bank, Mc Nicholas, Thomas Wyatt Nigeria, Eterna and 35 other declining equities.

Market capitalisation fell by 0.38 per cent, shedding N599 billion from an opening value of N158.614 trillion to close at N158.015 trillion.

Similarly, the All-Share Index declined by 927.70 points or 0.38 per cent, dropping from 245,730.53 to close at 244,802.83.

This led to the year-to-date (YTD) return declining to 57.32 per cent.

Similarly, the market breadth closed negative, recording 40 losers against 13 gainers.

Multiverse Mining and Livingtrust Mortgage Bank led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each, ending the session at N22.95 and N3.42 per share, respectively.

Also, Mc Nicholas dropped by 9.92 per cent, closing at N5.45; Thomas Wyatt Nigeria declined by 9.87 per cent, settling at N3.56, and Eterna shed 9.09 per cent, finishing at N33 per share.

On the other hand, AVA Capital led the gainers’ chart by 9.94 per cent, ending the session at N9.95; Nigeria Real Estate Investment Trust followed by 9.71 per cent, finishing at N113, while Livestock Feeds grew by 9.49 per cent, closing at N8.65 per share.

Similarly, Neimeth International Pharmaceutical gained 8.43 per cent, settling at N9, and AIICO Insurance advanced 3.47 per cent, closing at N4.18 per share.

Market activity improved during the session as total trading volume rose by 69.25 per cent to 1.56 billion shares worth N28.73 billion, exchanged in 54,160 deals.

Japaul Gold led the volume chart with 904.42 million shares, representing 57.89 per cent of the day’s total volume, while MTN Nigeria recorded the highest value of trades at N3.25 billion, accounting for 11.31 per cent of the day’s total turnover.

(NAN)