The Nigerian stock market extended bearish mood on Thursday on the back of sell pressure on Seplat Energy and 33 others.

Specifically, the market capitalisation dropped further by N113 billion or 0.51 per cent to close at N22.044 trillion from N22.157 trillion on Wednesday.

Similarly, the All-Share Index which opened at 42,463.16 dipped 215.18 points or 0.51 per cent to close at 42,247.98.

Accordingly, month-to-date loss increased to 2.3 per cent while year-to-date gain moderated to 4.9 per cent.

The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Seplat Energy, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), BOC Gases Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Zenith Bank.

Market sentiment was negative with 34 stocks laggards, relative to 17 gainers.

BOS Gases led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent to close at N9.45 per share.

UACN Property Development Company followed with 9.09 per cent to close at 90k, while Trans-Nationwide Express lost 8.99 per cent to close at 81k per share.

LivingTrust Mortgage Bank declined 8.33 per cent to close at 88k, while AXA Mansard shed 7.89 per cent to close at N2.10 per share.

On the other hand, Meyer dominated the gainers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent to close at 22k per share.

NEM Insurance followed with 7.33 per cent to close at N2.05, while Royal Exchange up by 5.88 per cent to close at 54k per share.

Japaul Gold and Ventures appreciated by 5.26 per cent to close at 40k, while Chams rose by 4.76 per cent to close at 22k per share.

Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with 113.36 million shares valued at N1.35 billion.

Guaranty Trust Bank Holding Company followed with 33.48 million shares worth N821.13 million, while Access Bank traded 18.97 million shares valued at N170.67 million.

Transcorp traded 18.14 million shares valued at N18.24 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 14.56 million shares worth N346.51 million.

In all, the total volume of shares traded dipped 3.4 per cent to 324.02 million units valued at N5.29 billion exchanged in 4,706 deals.

This was against a total of 335.48 million shares worth N3.55 billion traded in 3,891 deals on Wednesday.