DESPITE the gain recorded in shares of 16 companies, the Nigerian stock market sloped further as investors lost N137.55 billion in today’s trading session.

This brought the total market value (market capitalisation) of companies’ shares listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) to further decline to N29.14 trillion.

The All-Share Index (ASI) followed suit, dropping by 0.47 per cent to close at 53,498.27 basis points (bps) to dash the midday gain seen to have been inching by 20 bps in the earlier hours of the trading session.

Tuesday’s trading session saw the year-to-date gain of the ASI down to 4.39 per cent.

Dangote Cement led eight other companies to bring the market to a negative close as investors sold part of their holdings in mid- and large-capitalised stocks to book profit. It lost N12 on each share sold to close at N276.

While the UAC of Nigeria share price fell by 0.55k to close at N9.00, Fidson Healthcare declined by 0.29k to N9.55, as six other stocks fell.

Of the five sub-sector indices tracked, only the industrial index fell by 2.18 per cent to 2,480.60bps as all other indices closed in the green, except for the oil and gas index which closed flat.

At the close of the day’s trading, 202.85 million units of shares were traded at the Exchange, valued at N2.05 billion in 3,071 deals.

Transcorp Nigeria topped as the most active stock, with 61.49 million units of shares worth N85.31 million in 151 deals.