LOSS in the share prices of Guaranty Trust Holding Company, Zenith Bank and 19 other stocks dragged the total market value of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) down to N29.44 trillion at the end of the Tuesday, March 4, trading session.

The session’s market capitalisation, which is the total market value of all the stocks listed on the Exchange, opened at N29.52 trillion but fell by 0.27 per cent, leaving investors with a N81.14 billion loss.

The All-Share Index (ASI) also moderated by 0.27 per cent 54,035.39 basis points (bps), even as the year-to-date gain of the Exchange fell to 5.43 per cent.

The performance of the banking and industrial indices were negative relative to other sub-sectors – insurance, consumer goods and oil and gas indices – which were positive.

Pressure on the banking stocks led the index to fall by 1.34 per cent to 445.72bps. The 0.04 per cent to 2,455.42bps suffered by industrial stocks contributed to the loss on the Nigerian stock market on Tuesday.

Opening at N25.40, GTCO share price dropped by 0.80k to N24.60, and Zenith Bank lost 0.65k to N25.15 at the close of the day’s trading session.

Other banking stocks that fell included FCMB Group, which lost 0.15k to close at N4.00; Ecobank Transnational Incorporated dropped by 0.30k to N10.60; and United Bank for Africa (UBA), fell by 0.05k to N8.35.

On the industrial sub-sector, Lafarge Africa’s share price dropped by 0.20k to close at N25.80.

A further look at the losers’ table showed that Lasaco Assurance’s share price lost 0.02k to N1.21, while AIICO Insurance dropped by 0.03k to 0.57k, although the insurance index printed a gain of 0.89 per cent to close at 179.64bps.

While Oando shed 0.19k to close at N5.56; Eterna dropped by 0.55k to N5.60 despite the 0.25 per cent to 510.50bps posted by the oil and gas index.

The share price of the Nigerian Exchange Group fell the highest by N1.50 to close at N26.00, compared to other stocks traded on Tuesday at the floor.

Market activity was, however, positive as 296.74 million units of shares were traded, valued at N3.07 billion that exchanged hands in 4,590 deals.

Analysts at GTI Group were of the view that  “investors’ sentiments continue to rally towards defensive stocks as today’s sector’s performance showed a mixed sentiment, even as companies continue to release earnings and dividends.”