The stock market on the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) on Wednesday closed flat as the capitalisation declined by N2 billion amid sell-offs in Dangote Sugar and 19 other stocks

Notably, the market capitalisation which opened at N55.554 trillion, shed N2 billion to close at N55.552 trillion.

Consequently, the All-Share Index also lost five points to settle at 98,223.97, in contrast to 98,228.50 posted on Tuesday.

As a result,the Year-To-Date (YTD) return slipped to 31.36 percent.

Sell-offs in banking stocks such as: Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Access Corporation, as well as, PZ Cussons Nigeria, International Breweries, Dangote Sugar, among other declined equities, left the market in the red.

Also, the market breadth closed negative with 20 losers and 14 gainers.

On the losers’ table, PZ led by 10 percent to close at N34.20, International Breweries trailed closely by 9.89 percent to close at N3.92 per share.

McNichols Plc lost 9.73 percent to close at N1.02, Sterling Nigeria dropped 9.59 percent to close at N4.43 and Linkage Assurance went down by 9.41 percent to close at 77k per share.

Conversely, Okomu Oil led the gainers’ table by 9.98 percent to close at N255.70, Tantalizers followed by 8.33 percent to close at 39k and Cutix gained 5.26 percent to close at three Naira per share.

The Initiative Plc rose by 4.76 percent to close at N2.20 and WAPIC advanced by 4.4 percent to close at 71 kobo per share.

Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 9.94 percent.

A total of 319.08 million shares valued at N9.18 billion were exchanged in 8,121 deals, compared to 425.66 million shares valued at N8.35 billion exchanged in 9,620 deals traded at the previous session.

Meanwhile, the United Bank of Africa (UBA) led the volume chart with 79.98 million shares valued at N2.07 billion, Transnational Corporation followed by 38.59 million shares worth N472.37 million.

Access Corporation sold 34.07 million shares valued at N594.52, GTCO 25.21 million shares worth N968.61 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 12.62 million shares valued at N112.98 million.

The Naira on Monday further appreciated at the official market, trading at N1,354.21 to the dollar.

Data from the official trading platform of the FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), showed that the Naira gained N46.19.

This represents a 3.29 percent gain when compared to the previous trading date on Friday, May 3, when it exchanged at N1,400.40 to a dollar.

However, the total daily turnover reduced to 84.83 million dollars on Monday, down from 201.88 million dollars recorded on Friday.

Meanwhile, at the Investor’s and Exporter’s (I&E) window, the Naira traded between N1,441.00 and N1,285.00 against the dollar.

Investors in the Nigerian equities market started the trading week with a loss of N499bn.

This follows the tumble in the share prices of stocks like Airtel Africa, Berger Paints, Industrial Medical Gases and International Energy Insurance.

Similarly, the NGX-All-Share Index ASI decreased to 98,703.68 from 99,587.25 recorded at the close of the previous trading day.

After five hours of trading at the capital market, the equity capitalisation decreased to N55.823 trillion from N56.323 trillion posted by the bourse on Friday last week.

The market breadth was positive as 38 stocks advanced, 18 stocks declined, while 65 stocks remained unchanged in 10, 624 deals.

Cornerstone Insurance and Guinea Insurance led other price gainers with 10 percent growth each to close at N1.98 and N0.33 from their prices of N1.80 and N0.30k respectively.

On the flipside, Airtel Africa led other price decliners as it shed 10 percent off its price to trade at N1980 from N2200. Berger Paints, Industrial Medical Gases and International Energy Insurance also shed 9.85 percent, 9.82 percent and 9.35 percent respectively.

On the volume index, banking stocks dominated with Access Holdings Plc trading 98.236 million units of its shares in 1,209 deals, valued at N1.760 billion. UBA traded 40.395 million units of its shares in 842 deals, valued at N1.071 billion and GTCO which traded 35.905 million units of its shares in 740 deals, valued at N1.493 billion.

Like the volume index, banking stocks dominated the value index with Access Holdings Plc recording the highest value for the day trading stocks worth N1.760 billion in 1,209 deals followed by GTCO which traded equities worth N1.493 billion in 740 deals and UBA which traded stocks worth N1.071bn in 842 deals.