The local equity market on Wednesday returned to negative trend shedding N27 billion or 0.07 per cent to N37.373 trillion from N37.400 trillion reported the previous day.
The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 48.40 basis points to 68286.28 points from 68334.68 points reported the previous day.
Volume of shares traded during the day declined by 179.198 million, representing 47.32 per cent as investors traded 378.654 million shares valued at N5.482 billion in 7671 deals against 557.852 million shares worth N10.210 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 9818 deals.
Meanwhile, the domestic equity continued in positive trajectory for the fourth straight month to August with 3.44 per cent growth month on month gains to close at 66,548.99 points, beating a 15-year high since March 2008. The bullish performance was spurred by strong investor sentiments in the consumer goods and Insurance sectors.
Capital market operators also said that the positive interim dividend payments by corporates and strong search for gains by investors drove the rally which gave equity investors a total of N1.4 trillion in the month while the market capitalization of listed equities closed at N36.42 trillion and then the year to date return printed at 29.8 per cent.
However, an analysis of the investment showed that Guinea Insurance led gainers table with 10 per cent to N0.23 per unit, Betaglass followed with a gain of 9.91 per cent to close at N47.15 per per share, Caverton gained 9.84 per cent to close at N1.34 per unit, Oando Plc added 9.70 per cent to close at N7.35 per unit, CWG added 9.11 per cent to close at N4.79 per unit.
On the contrary, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc topped losers chart, declining by 10 per cent to close at N22.50 per share, Veritas Kapital trailed with a loss of 7.69 per cent to N0.24 per share, Linkage Assurance fell by 5.56 per cent to close at N0.85 per unit, Dangote Sugar Refinery dipped by 4.76 per cent to close at N66.65 per unit while International Breweries down by 4.35 per cent to N4.40 per unit.
Transactions in the shares of Oando Plc led market activities with 83.526 million shares valued at N609.377 million, United Bank for Africa followed with account 35.627 million shares cost N533.748 million, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria exchanged 26.657 million shares cost N177.694 million, AccessCorp traded 18.534 million shares cost N321.080 million while Omatek exchanged 15.729 million shares cost N9.437 million.
