By Dipo Olowookere
It was a bad trading day on Wednesday on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as losses recorded by large cap equities dragged the market down by 0.35 percent at the close of transactions.
The local bourse, which had recorded gains in the first two trading sessions of this week, fell to profit-taking embarked upon by investors at the market.
Though there was a spike in the volume of transactions at the NSE yesterday, the value of shares bought and sold by investors significantly dropped.
Business Post reports that the volume of stocks traded on Wednesday increased by 33.68 percent from 341.5 million to 456.5 million, while the total value of shares exchanged went down by 20.40 percent from N5.2 billion to N4.1 billion.
The Financial Services sector topped the activity chart with 398.6 million shares transacted for N3 billion, while the Oil and Gas industry followed with 24.1 million equities traded for N36 million.
UBA was the darling of investors at the market yesterday, emerging the most traded stock after selling 90.6 million units worth N998.2 million.
It was followed by United Capital, which traded 78.7 million shares valued at N258.4 million and Africa Prudential, which exchanged 72.1 million equities for N312.6 million.
Access Bank traded 26.3 million shares at N282.3 million, while African Alliance Insurance sold 23.3 million equities worth N4.7 million.
Nigerian Breweries emerged the highest price losers on Wednesday, going down by N2.10k to close at N115 per share.
Dangote Sugar followed with 50 kobo of its share price lost to end at N19 per share and Zenith Bank, which declined by 45 kobo to close at N26.75k per share.
FBN Holdings went down by 30 kobo to finish at N10.90k per share, while UBA reduced by 15 kobo to settle at N10.95k per share.
At the other side, it was a sweet day for CCNN as its stock appreciated by N1 to emerge the highest price gainer to close at N27.50k per share.
It was followed by Flour Mills, which increased by 35 kobo to close at N32.65k per share and UAC Prop, which grew by 10 kobo to end at N2.11k per share.
Union Bank also gained 10 kobo to settle at N6.20k per share, while Learn Africa went up by 7 kobo to close at N1.51k per share
A look at the major market indices showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased on Wednesday by 135.32 points to close at 39,031.72 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N49 billion to settle at N14.139 trillion.
The market is expected to regain its feet today, dusting off the loss recorded yesterday, which is not enough to cause panic.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka