Declines recorded in the shares of MTN Nigeria (-3.03 per cent), Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (-2.31 per cent), Nigerian Breweries (-1.69 per cent) and other 20 others dragged the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange by N62bn to N59.115tn on Tuesday.
This marked the second consecutive day of the market closing in the red zone following sell-offs.
The NGX’s All-Share Index and the market capitalisation depreciated by 0.40 per cent on Monday.
The equities market benchmark index further decreased by 110.03 points to settle at 104,553.31 points, resulting in a year-to-date return of 39.83 per cent.
Trading activity levels, however, showed positive results as total deals and volume increased by 5.19 per cent and 6.82 per cent to 9,548 trades and 307.05 million units, respectively, although the total traded value declined by 29.69 per cent to N7.59bn.
Performance across sectors displayed robust results as all five sub-indices tracked closed positive.
The banking, insurance, consumer goods, oil/gas, and industrial goods indexes gained 1.07 per cent, 0.59 per cent, 0.16 per cent, 0.04 per cent, and 0.12 per cent, respectively.
FBN Holdings emerged as the most traded security in terms of volume and value, with 37.81 million units worth N1.57bn transacted in 658 trades.
Its market cap stood at N1.58tn, making it the most capitalised financial institution on the local bourse.
Despite the fall in the benchmark index, the exchange witnessed more gainers, 27, than losers 23.
The top five gainers for the day were International Energy Insurance, (10.00 per cent), International Breweries (9.89 per cent), Juli Plc (9.85 per cent), NEM Insurance (9.59 per cent), and FBNH (9.06 per cent).
Also on the decliners chart were Daar Communications, whose share price decreased by 9.86 per cent; Computer Warehouse Group lost 9.09 per cent and Sovereign Insurance shed 8.51 per cent.
Last week, bargain-hunting by investors positioning themselves ahead of the dividend-paying season led to a positive outing for the exchange as investors gained N2.12tn.
