The Nigerian equities market returned to negative territory on Thursday with the All-Share Index declining by 3.12 per cent due to price depreciation in blue chips.

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Specifically, the All-Share Index dipped 711.06 points, representing 3.12 per cent, to close at 22,078.58 compared with 22,789.64 on Wednesday.

Similarly, the market capitalisation shed N371 billion to close at N11.505 trillion against N11.876 trillion on Wednesday.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nestle Nigeria, MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank and Lafarge Africa.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited expected the bearish trend to persist given the current global pandemic, noting, however, that there were opportunities for bargain hunting.

Market breadth closed negative with 13 gainers against 22 losers.

Africa Prudential recorded the highest price gain in percentage terms, growing by 9.91 per cent, to close at N3.55 per share.

Jaiz Bank followed with a gain 9.76 per cent to close at 45k per share, while Cornerstone Insurance improved by 9.43 per cent to close at 58 per share.

Livestock Feeds and Sterling Bank rose by 9.09 per cent each, to close at 60k and N1.08 per share, respectively.

Conversely, United Capital and Zenith Bank led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, dropping by 10 per cent each, to close at N2.34 and N12.15 per share, respectively.

Arbico followed with a decline of 9.81 per cent to close at N2.85 per share.

Fidson Healthcare dropped 9.80 per cent to close at N2.21, while Prestige Assurance shed 9.09 per cent to close at 50k per share.

The total volume of shares traded fell by 21.7 per cent as investors bought and sold 525.85 million valued at N4.74 billion exchanged in 5,450 deals.

This was in contrast with 671.52 million shares worth N10.58 billion transacted in 7,247 deals on Wednesday.

Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 118.45 million shares valued at N1.47 billion.

Wapic Insurance followed with 102.44 million shares worth N22.48 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 100.71 million shares valued at N1.83 billion.

FBN Holdings traded 35.18 million shares worth N140.74 million, while United Bank for Africa transacted 30.75 million shares valued at N155.45 million.