Lagos: The equities market reversed its recent winning streak on Thursday, with investors losing N73 billion as sustained sell-offs in banking and insurance stocks dragged prices lower.
Trading resumed after the June 12 Democracy Day public holiday, with the market operating for four days this week.
Market capitalisation declined by 0.05 per cent to close at N156.969 trillion, down from N157.042 trillion recorded in the previous session.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 133.47 points, or 0.05 per cent, to close at 244,738.74, compared with 244,852.21 on Wednesday.
As a result, the market’s year-to-date return eased to 57.27 per cent, while market breadth closed flat at 32 gainers and 32 losers.
On the losers’ chart, International Energy Insurance led with a 10 per cent decline to close at N7.11 per share. May and Baker fell by 8.51 per cent to N43, while Tripple Gee dropped 8.47 per cent to N4 per share.
Abbey Mortgage Bank lost 7.69 per cent to close at N11.40, while AXA Mansard declined by 6.67 per cent to N12.60 per share.
Conversely, Enamelware, Learn Africa, Consolidated Hallmark and University Press topped the gainers’ chart, each advancing by 10 per cent to close at N40.70, N11, N8.25 and N5.50 per share, respectively.
ABC Transport also gained 9.86 per cent to close at N7.80 per share.
Trading activity improved significantly, with investors exchanging 1.70 billion shares worth N52.81 billion in 49,807 deals.
This represented an increase from the 1.23 billion shares valued at N38.84 billion traded in 54,193 transactions in the previous session.
FCMB led the volume chart with 584.87 million shares, accounting for 33.99 per cent of total market volume.
Access Corporation topped the value chart with transactions worth N13.95 billion, representing 26.41 per cent of the total value traded.
