The Nigerian stock market recorded a loss on Thursday of 0.12 percent due to losses in some highly capitalised stocks.
Accordingly, the 
declined by 136.25 points, representing a decrease of 0.12 percent to close at 50,014.6 from 50,075.47 posted on Wednesday.
declined by 136.25 points, representing a decrease of 0.12 percent to close at 50,014.6 from 50,075.47 posted on Wednesday.Consequently, the year-to-date return moderated to 17.09 percent.
Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N32.83 billion to close at N26.976 trillion against N27.009 trillion on Wednesday.
The negative performance of the market was driven by losses in large and medium capitalised stocks of MTN Nigeria and Tier-one banking such as Zenith Bank, Stanbic Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO).
The market closed negative with 24 laggards relative to 14 gainers.
NAHCO led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 percent to close at N5.83 per share.
First City Monument Bank (FCMB) followed with 9.84 percent to close at N3.35, while Ikeja Hotel appreciated 9.43 percent to close at N1.16 per share.
Multiverse Mining and Exploration rose by 9.22 percent to close at N2.25, while Courtville Business Solutions went up by 8.51 percent to close at 51k per share.
On the other hand, ABC transports drove the losers’ chart in percentage terms with 6.67 percent to close at 28k per share.
JaizBank followed with 5.56 percent to close at 85k, while Stanbic went down by 3.28 percent to close at N28.05 per share.
Caverton Offshore Support Group and UBA depreciated by 2.86 percent and 2.78 percent each to close at N1.02 and N7 per share, respectively.
The total volume traded increased by 8.49 percent to 266.12 million units valued at N2.26 billion exchanged in 4,034 deals.
This was against a total of 279.22 million shares worth N2.08 billion achieved in 3,576 deals on Wednesday.
Transactions in the shares of (UBA) topped the activity chart with 20.45 million shares valued at N143.65 million.
Chams followed with 8.98 million shares worth N2.77 million, while Access Bank Holdings traded 8.17 million shares valued at N72.69 million.
Japaul Gold & Ventures traded 7.35 million shares worth N2.86 million, while Jaiz Bank transacted 7.01million shares valued at N6.24 million.
