The stock market closed in the red zone on Wednesday with a loss of N337 billion for investors.

This negative trading returned just a day after the market recorded the first gain after six consecutive days of bearish trading.

At the close of trading, the benchmark index of the market dropped by 556.37 points or 0.57 per cent to 96,567.24. The market capitalisation of the exchange also moved downward to settle at N58.51tn, indicating a 0.57 per cent decline and bringing the year-to-date returns to 43.01 per cent.

The trading pattern on the exchange indicated that sell-offs and portfolio rebalancing activities of the investors had continued despite the N131bn reprieve recorded in the previous trading session.

Despite the negative sentiment, 20 stocks recorded gains, narrowly outpacing 21 decliners.

Among the top gainers were Eunisell (+9.87 per cent), Regency Alliance Insurance (+9.30 per cent), Veritaskap (9.17 per cent,  FCMB Group (+7.73 per cent), and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (+7.44 per cent) to close at N7.46, N0.47, N1.31, N9.75 and N26, respectively.

On the losing side were the shares of United Bank for Africa, Oando, Thomas Wyatt, NASCON Allied Industries and Lasaco which experienced declines of 9.99 per cent, 9.98 per cent, 9.79 per cent, 7.83 per cent, and 7.50 per cent, respectively.

Sectoral performance was mostly positive, with the insurance (+0.49 per cent), oil/gas (+0.80 per cent), and industrial goods (+0.03 per cent) sectors seeing gains, while the banking and consumer goods sectors declined by 0.92 per cent and 0.13 per cent, respectively.

Overall, the bearish sentiment weighed on trading activity, with the number of deals, volume, and value falling by 15.53 per cent, 88.39 per cent, and 60.73 per cent, respectively, resulting in 418.39 million shares valued at N10.04bn traded across 9,021 deals.

Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc led in trading volume, with 79.6 million shares worth N401.9m changing hands in 126 deals, while UBA topped the trade value chart.