The free fall of equities continued on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday with the All-Share Index dropping further by 0.42 per cent, amid losses in 17 stocks.

Consequently, the index shed 115.27 points or 0.42 per cent to close at 27,412.13 against 27,527.40 recorded on Tuesday.

Similarly, investors lost N56 billion in value as market capitalisation closed lower at N13.358 trillion against N13.414 trillion on Tuesday.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which include Dangote Cement, Red Star Express, Flour Mills Nigeria, Zenith Bank and Continental Reinsurance.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “We still maintain our bearish outlook for the rest of the week in the absence of any major catalyst.

“However, we see opportunities for bargain hunting in stocks with sound fundamentals.”

Red Star Express led the losers’ chart in percentage terms dropping by 9.85 per cent to close at N4.76 per share.

Continental Reinsurance followed with a decline of 9.68 per cent to close at N1.40, while Jaiz Bank went down by 9.52 per cent to close at 38k per share.

Japaul Oil & Maritime Services lost 9.09 per cent to close at 20k, while Mutual Benefits Assurance shed 8.33 per cent to close at 22k per share.

On the other hands, AIICO Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 9.38 per cent to close at 70k per share.

Conoil followed with a gain of 6.33 per cent to close at N17.65, while Lasaco Assurance appreciated by 5.88 per cent to close at 36k per share.

Honeywell Flour Mills rose by 5.26 per cent to close at N1, while Eterna appreciated by 1.85 per cent to close at N2.75 per share.

The total volume traded declined by 24.4 per cent to 128.96 million shares, worth N1.18 billion exchanged in 3,118 deals.

This was in contrast with 170.72 million shares valued at N2.26 billion exchanged in 3,614 deals.

Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with 30.90 million shares valued at N162.05 million.

Transcorp followed with a turnover of 16.03 million shares worth N14.60 million, while FCMB Group traded 11.04 million shares valued at N18.67 million.

Access Bank traded 9.01 million shares worth N56.40 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 8.34 million shares valued at N148.64 million.