The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited surrendered its control to the bears on Wednesday, closing lower by 0.13 per cent when trading activities ended for the day.
The decline was influenced by profit-taking in most of the sectors, despite the insurance and the energy indices closing green by 7.94 per cent and 0.12 per cent, respectively.
It was observed that the consumer goods space lost 0.91 per cent, the banking index depreciated by 0.53 per cent, and the industrial goods counter went down by 0.33 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 191.09 points to 145,864.80 points from 146,055.89 points and the market capitalisation moderated by N121 billion to N92.284 trillion from N92.405 trillion.
Sell-offs in large-cap stocks like GTCO, Zenith Bank, Lafarge Africa, Nigerian Breweries and others caused the downfall of Customs Street yesterday as the market breadth index remained positive and investor sentiment still strong after closing with 53 price gainers and 21 price losers.
Thomas Wyatt lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N3.42, UPDC slipped by 7.94 per cent to N8.00, Legend Internet tumbled by 6.35 per cent to N5.60, Berger Paints slumped by 6.16 per cent to N32.00, and Champion Breweries depreciated by 5.75 per cent to N16.38.
On the flip side, Learn Africa, Tripple Gee, Prestige Assurance, FTN Cocoa, and Caverton gained 10.00 per cent each to finish at N7.70, N5.17, N2.42, N6.93, and N7.92 apiece.
A total of 1.3 billion shares worth N20.2 billion were traded in 30,749 deals at midweek versus the 1.3 billion shares valued at N24.3 billion transacted in 31,155 deals in the preceding session, showing a shortfall in the trading value and number of deals by 16.87 per cent and 1.30 per cent apiece, as the trading volume remained unchanged.
Universal Insurance topped the activity chart after it sold 193.4 million units for N282.4 million, Japaul traded 123.2 million units worth N390.0 million, Veritas Kapital exchanged 93.2 million units valued at N260.1 million, Access Holdings transacted 85.0 million units worth N2.4 billion, and Sterling Holdings traded 68.2 million units valued at N552.6 million.