By TAIYE OLAYEMI

The Nigerian equities market closed September on a bearish note with a N426 billion loss on Wednesday.

The decline was driven by losses in Fidelity Bank, Guinea Insurance, Sovereign Trust Insurance, Learn Africa, Thomas Wyatt and 23 other stocks.

The market capitalisation declined from N163.530 trillion to N163.104 trillion, shedding N426 billion.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 0.28 per cent, or 701.53 points, from 251,913.20 to 251,211.67.

Consequently, the market’s Year-to-Date (YtD) return declined to 61.43 per cent, while market breadth also closed negative with 28 losers and 25 gainers.

Learn Africa led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent, finishing at N7.65, Thomas Wyatt trailed by 9.80 per cent, ending the session at N2.67, while Sovereign Trust Insurance dropped by 6.78 per cent, settling at N2.20 per share.

Also, Guinea Insurance dipped by 6.67 per cent, closing at 70k and Fidelity Bank fell by 6.07 per cent, settling at N21.65 per share.

Conversely, Haldane McCall led the gainers’ chart by 10 per cent, finishing at N3 41, Critical Minerals Financing Corp followed by 9.92 per cent, settling at N4.32, while Cornerstone Insurance gained by 9.80 per cent, closing at N5.60 per share.

Similarly, Livingtrust Mortgage Bank climbed by 9.79 per cent, ending the session at N3.14 and ABC Transport increased by 9.76 per cent, closing at N6.75 per share.

Meanwhile, trading activity increased during the session, as total volume rose by 88.71 per cent to 1.04 billion shares, while the value of transactions stood at N53.64 billion from 44,469 transactions.

VFDGROUP led in volume with 367.32 million shares, representing 35.48 per cent of the total traded volume.

UAC of Nigeria accounted for the highest transaction value of N21.51 billion, representing 40.11 per cent of the day’s total value. (NAN)