Equities trading session at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Tuesday witnessed a downturn bringing the benchmark index down by 50 basis points, to settle at 97,390.01 basis points.

This bearish trend led to significant sell-offs, causing investors to incur losses totalling N279 billion as the market capitalisation of listed equities contracted by 0.50 percent settling at N55.29 trillion.

The market’s weak performance was driven primarily by selloffs in index heavyweights, BUA Cement, alongside Zenith Bank and First Bank of Nigeria Holdings as the shares of these high-capitalised companies dipped by 3.94 percent, 4.02 percent, and 3.93 percent, respectively.

Thus, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -0.4 percent and +30.3 percent, respectively.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 28 tickers posted losses relative to 25 gainers.

On the performance board, reflecting this negative sentiment, stocks such as Oando, Livestock, Cornerstone Insurance, Linkage Assurance, and Sovereign Insurance saw significant declines by 9.97 percent, 8.10 percent, 7.66 percent, 7.61 percent, and 7.41 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, Mecure, Neimeth Pharmaceutical, Champion Breweries, UPL, and RTBriscoe emerged as the top gainers of the day having 9.98 percent, 9.90 percent, 9.75 percent, 9.63 percent, and 9.35 percent, respectively. Trading activity on the NGX was robust, with total deals, traded volume, and value increasing by 5.56 percent, 20.26 percent, and 18.23 percent, to 11,237 deals, 599.25 million units, and N13.92 billion, respectively.

Sectoral performance was largely negative, with the Banking, Insurance, Oil/Gas, and Industrial Goods indices falling by 1.92 percent, 1.47 percent, 0.13 percent, and 1.22 percent, respectively, while the Consumer Goods index advanced by 0.82 percent.

Analysis of market activities on Tuesday showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, driven by Guaranty Trust Holding Company and Access Holdings with the value of transactions up by 18.23 percent.

A total of 599.25 million shares valued at N13.92 billion were exchanged in 11,237 deals. Guaranty Trust Holding Company led the volume and value chart with 72.00 million units traded in deals worth N3.28 billion.

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