By RUKAYAT ADEYEMI

The bears dominated the domestic market on Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) on Wednesday as market capitalisation dropped by N1.07 trillion.

Specifically, the market capitalisation closed at N55.357 trillion, representing 1.89 per cent when compared with N56.425 trillion recorded on Tuesday.

Also, the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 1,951.69 points to settle at 101,158.46, decreasing by 1.89 per cent when compared with 103,110.15 posted on Tuesday.

Losses in MTN Nigeria, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company(GTCO) placed the market on a declined terrain.

As a result, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return decreased to 35.28 per cent.

Meanwhile, a total of 749.13 million shares valued at N22.49 billion were exchanged in 14,092 deals.

However, the market breadth closed negative with 50 declining equities outnumbering nine advancing ones.

UPDC, Zenith Bank, Royal Exchange Plc, May & Baker Nigeria and Sterling Nigeria led the laggards’ chart in percentage terms of 10 each, to close at N1.80, N35.10, 72k, N6.21 and N5.67 per share respectively.

Conversely, on the gainers’ chart, Tripple Gee &Co Plc and PZ Cusson Nigeria led with a gain of 9.97 per cent each to close at N3.42 and N33.10 per share respectively.

Also, Geregu Power rose by 9.69 per cent to close at N517.80, while McNichols Plc appreciated by 9.66 per cent to close at N1.59 per share.

Veritas Kapital Assurance grew by 9.09 per cent to close at 60k per share.

Meanwhile, Transcorp Hotel led the volume chart with 79.68 million shares traded at N1.06 billion, United Bank of Africa (UBA) followed by 61.34 million shares worth N1.55 billion.

Zenith Bank also sold 61.18 million shares at the rate of N2.26 billion, while GTCO traded 47.91 million shares worth N1.84 billion.

Access Corporation sold 43.49 shares worth N1.04 billion per shares.

Analysis of the market activities showed that trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 102.88 per cent.

Reacting, the Doyen of Nigerian Stockbrokers, Mr Sam Ndata, assured investors that the market performance called for no worry.

Ndata told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that a decline in marke performance a nature of the market.

He said: “Today’s drop in market performance does not mean that investors are at lost, hence, there is no cause for alarm.

“The market has been on a rising trend for weeks now, so the nature of investment must take its course.

“It is a regular practice for investors to sell-off part of their investment and that is why we witnessed a drop in the market record.

“We believe that by tomorrow or following days the market will rise again. (NAN)

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