The Nigerian stock market closed on a bearish note on Tuesday, reversing the gains recorded in the previous trading session as investors lost N599 billion in market value.

Market capitalisation declined by 0.38 per cent, dropping by N599 billion from N158.614 trillion at the opening of trading to N158.015 trillion at the close.

The benchmark All-Share Index, ASI also fell by 927.70 points, or 0.38 per cent, to settle at 244,802.83 from the previous day’s 245,730.53.

As a result of the decline, the market’s Year-to-Date, YTD return slipped to 57.32 per cent.

Market sentiment remained weak, with market breadth closing in the negative after 40 stocks recorded losses, while only 13 equities posted gains.

On the losers’ chart, Multiverse Mining and LivingTrust Mortgage Bank emerged as the worst-performing stocks, each shedding 10 per cent to close at N22.95 and N3.42 per share, respectively.

On the gainers’ table, AVA Capital topped the list after appreciating by 9.94 per cent to close at N9.95 per share. It was followed by Nigeria Real Estate Investment Trust, which advanced by 9.71 per cent to close at N113 per share.

Despite the market’s negative performance, trading activity improved significantly during the session. Total trading volume increased by 69.25 per cent to 1.56 billion shares valued at N28.73 billion, exchanged in 54,160 deals.

Japaul Gold dominated the volume chart, accounting for 904.42 million shares traded, representing 57.89 per cent of the total volume recorded for the day.

Meanwhile, MTN Nigeria recorded the highest value of transactions, with trades worth N3.25 billion, representing 11.31 per cent of the total market turnover.