Profit-taking in BUA Foods and 20 other stocks extended the bearish run in Nigeria’s equities market on Tuesday.
The All-Share Index fell by 146.15 per cent or 0.31 per cent to close at 47,057.24 versus 47,203.39 achieved on Monday.
Therefore, the month-to-date return and year-to-date return moderated to 0.9% and 10.2%, respectively.
In addition, the market capitalization decreased by N79 billion or 0.31 per cent to N25.357 trillion from N25.436 trillion on Monday.
Market depreciation was mainly driven by large and medium capitalised stocks, such as BUA Foods, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), Unilever, Fidson Healthcare, and United Capital.
Negative sentiment prevailed with 21 laggards to 18 gainers.
In percentage terms, Courteville Business Solutions posted the largest loss of 7.27 per cent to close at 51k per share.
The UAC Property Development Company (UPDC) fell by 5.66 per cent to close at N1, while University Press lost 5.41 per cent to close at N2.45 per share.
Unilever Nigeria closed at N13.15, down 4.36 per cent, while BUA Foods shed 4.04 per cent, closing at N61.80.
The gainers’ chart in percentage terms was led by Presco, which closed at N104.50 per share.
With 9.97 per cent, NEM Insurance closed at N3.31 per share, while Ikeja Hotel gained 9.77 per cent to close at N1.46 per share.
The share price of SUNU Assurances went up by 9.09 per cent to 36k, while AIICO Insurance appreciated by 5.80 per cent to 73k.
A total of 238.22 million shares worth N5.09 billion were traded in 4,826 transactions, which represents a decline of 16.56 percent.
This was against a total of 285.48 million shares valued at N5.13 billion shares traded in 5,342 deals on Monday.
The most activity was seen in the shares of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), with 32.354 million shares worth N887.764 million changing hands.
Zenith Bank followed with 24.33 million shares worth N653.47 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 22.29 million shares worth N63.93 million.
NGXGroup traded 17.23 million shares worth N426.63 million, while Transcorp traded 21.39 million shares worth N24.85 million.