Nigerian Exchange Heads South, Equities Investors Lose N613bn
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) key performance indicators headed south on Thursday, with selloffs in consumer goods and insurance names leading the decliners.
The All-Share index fell by 0.39%, shedding 949.71 points to close at 243,017.38. Also, market capitalisation declined by about N613.08 billion, a -0.39% change, to settle at N156.88 trillion.
The NGX ASI year-to-date return moderated to 56.17% as half-year earnings euphoria and post-earnings buying momentum began to fade.
Market breadth stood at 0.38x, with 16 gainers and 42 losers. The gainers list was led by INTENEGINS (10.00%), JOHNHOLT (9.89%), and TRANSEXPR (9.75%), while the losers list was topped by UNILEVER (-9.97%), CHELLARAM (-9.66%), and NIDF(-9.55%).
Market activity levels increased as total volume rose to 4.24Bn, trade value to N50.58 billion, and the number of deals to 41,389, compared to the last trading session, when N1.46 billion units of shares valued at N20.84 billion were executed in 39,031 deals.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange trading platform revealed that CORNERST topped the volume and value charts, with 3.64 billion units and a trade value of N18.37 billion.
Trading activity strengthened considerably, however, with volume, turnover, and deal count surging 191.22%, 141.92%, and 6.06% to 4.24 billion shares, ₦50.65 billion, and 41,454 transactions, respectively.
Sectoral performance was largely negative, as Consumer Goods (-1.22%), Insurance (-0.55%), Banking (-0.27%), and Oil& Gas (-0.07%) all weighed on the index, while the Industrial and Commodity sectors ended flat.
Stockbrokers expect the stock market to sustain its bearish trend as investor sentiment tilts increasingly negative, though residual optimism could spark a recovery driven by portfolio readjustment and strategic repositioning. SEC Sets 5 p.m. T+1 Settlement Deadline
