Nigerian Market Shrinks as Equity Investors Lose N295bn
The Nigerian stock market shrank as equity investors lost an additional N295 billion on Friday due to profit-taking activities across sectoral indexes – reflecting deteriorating sentiment.
Investor repositioning and continued profit-taking contributed to a soft close for the market this week, stockbrokers said, noting a 32 basis point decline in key performance indicators.
Sector rotation stayed prominent on Friday, and trading activity remained resilient amidst some sort of year-end portfolio rebalancing activities.
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All-Share Index weakened further by 0.32% to settle at 143,722.62 points, while market capitalisation contracted by ₦295.38 billion to ₦91.41 trillion.
Trading activity surged across all parameters: volume jumped 88.07% to 656.9 million shares, transaction values spiked 175.51% to ₦25.62 billion, and deal count edged up 0.47% to 18,842.
This improvement signals heightened institutional participation through larger block transactions and a modest uptick in retail engagement despite prevailing risk-off sentiment. Cowry Asset Limited told investors in a report.
ACCESSCORP topped the volume chart, accounting for 19.61% of all transaction volume in the market, followed by ZENITHBANK (13.94%), UACN (11.33%), GTCO (7.38%), and FIDELITYBK with 5.75%.
ZENITHBANK topped the trading value chart, accounting for 21.32% of the total value of all trades executed, thereby making it the highest traded on the exchange.
NCR topped gainers chart again, up by +9.89%, followed by IKEJAHOTEL (+9.74%), NEIMETH (+9.09%), MAYBAKER (+8.60%), REGALINS (+6.60%), JBERGER (+6.37%), and eleven others.
A total of thirty-seven stocks depreciated, data from the Nigerian Exchange revealed. With a price depreciation of -10.00%, RTBRISCOE topped the worst performers’ chart, followed by LEGENDINT (-9.93%), INTENEGINS (-9.79%), NAHCO (-9.78%), LINKASSURE (-9.68%), and ROYALEX (-8.54%).
Market breadth remained negative, as 38 decliners significantly outpaced 17 advancers. NCR, IKEJAHOTEL, NEIMETH, MAYBAKER, and REGALINS led the gainers, while RTBRISCOE, LEGENDINT, INTENEGINS, NAHCO, and LINKASSURE topped the losers’ chart.
Sectoral performance was mixed: Insurance recorded the largest loss at 2.24%, followed by Consumer Goods (-0.16%), Oil & Gas (-0.08%), and Industrial (-0.01%). The banking index advanced 0.28%, and the commodity sector closed flat. Dangote Cement Plunges as Investors Trim Shareholding
