AGS NEWS – The bears retained control of the Nigerian Exchange on Tuesday, with the All-Share Index experiencing a decline of 1.39%.

Investors witnessed a loss of N773 billion driven by sell-offs, leading the market capitalization to settle at N55.04 trillion.

The year-to-date return for the market decreased to 34.52%.

Market Breadth, reflecting investors’ sentiment, remained negative with 27 losers and 10 gainers recorded.

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Among the gainers, Africa Prudential Plc led with a 9.86% increase to close at N7.80 per share, followed by Omatek and Juli Plc, which appreciated by 9.86% and 9.73% respectively.

However, FBN Holdings saw a decline of 10%, closing at N30.60 per share, despite emerging as the most capitalized financial firm on Monday.

Other notable losers included Multiverse and MTN Nigeria, whose shares dipped by 10% and 9.94% respectively, closing at N15.30 and N222.90 per share.

Transcorp emerged as the most traded security by volume, with 44.41 million units traded, while NASCON led in terms of value, totaling N893.68 million.

The total transaction volume for the day was 280.46 million, compared to the previous day’s 277.48 million units valued at N6.12 billion.

Across sectors, bearish sentiments were observed, particularly in banking, insurance, and consumer goods sectors, recording declines of 3.35%, 2.19%, and 0.17% respectively.

This was influenced by sell-sentiments in key stocks such as FBN Holdings, NASCON Industries, MTN Nigeria, Axa Mansard, United Bank for Africa, and AccessCorp.

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The industrial goods index closed southward by 0.05%, while the Oil & Gas index remained muted.

Tunde Amolegbe, CEO of Arthur Steven Asset Management, highlighted the possibility of a significant pullback in the equities market following the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to increase the benchmark rate by 400 basis points to 22.75%.