The equities market reversed its winning streak on Thursday, closing the week on a negative note as investors lost N73 billion.
It was reported that the market traded for four days this week following the Federal Government’s declaration of June 12 as a public holiday.
The downturn was driven by sustained sell-offs in banking and insurance stocks, which heavily impacted overall market performance.
Market capitalization declined by 0.05 percent, closing at N156.969 trillion, down from N157.042 trillion in the previous session.
The All-Share Index also shed 133.47 points, or 0.05 percent, ending at 244,738.74 compared with 244,852.21 previously.
The market’s year-to-date return weakened to 57.27 percent, while market breadth remained flat with 32 gainers and 32 losers.
International Energy Insurance led the losers’ chart, dropping 10 percent to close at N7.11 per share.
May & Baker followed, losing 8.51 percent to close at N43, while Tripple Gee declined by 8.47 percent to settle at N4 per share.
Abbey Mortgage Bank fell 7.69 percent to close at N11.40, and AXA Mansard shed 6.67 percent to finish at N12.60 per share.
On the gainers’ chart, Enamelware, Learn Africa, Consolidated Hallmark, and University Press each advanced by 10 percent.
Their stocks closed at N40.70, N11, N8.25, and N5.50 per share, respectively.
ABC Transport gained 9.86 percent, ending the session at N7.80 per share.
A total of 1.70 billion shares worth N52.81 billion were traded in 49,807 deals.
This compares with 1.23 billion shares valued at N38.84 billion exchanged in 54,193 transactions during the previous session.
FCMB led the volume chart with 584.87 million shares traded, representing 33.99 percent of total market volume.
Access Corporation topped the value chart with transactions worth N13.95 billion, accounting for 26.41 percent of total market value traded.
