The Nigerian stock market closed last week deep in negative territory, with investors losing about ₦832 billion in market value as persistent sell-offs dragged down key performance indicators.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) revealed that market capitalization fell to ₦87.94 trillion from ₦89.94 trillion the previous week, trimming year-to-date gains to 35.03%.
The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) shed 0.94% week-on-week, closing at 138,980.01 points compared to 140,295.49 points in the prior week. Market watchers attributed the decline to risk-off sentiment driven by macroeconomic uncertainties, profit-taking, and weak buying appetite.
Stockbrokers noted that overall trading activity slowed, with the total number of deals down 17.43% to 117,791. Traded volume also dipped by 2.66% to 3.11 billion units, though market turnover rose by 5.53% to ₦90.20 billion, reflecting a bias toward high-value counters.
Market breadth was particularly weak, settling at 0.30x as only 19 gainers were recorded against 63 decliners. The selloff was broad-based, with five out of six sectoral indices closing negative.
The Industrial Goods Index was the hardest hit, sliding 2.08% as large-cap stocks came under heavy pressure. The Banking Index followed with a 1.52% decline, while the Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas, and Insurance indices lost 1.18%, 0.77%, and 0.36%, respectively.
The only exception was the Commodities Index, which posted a marginal 0.04% uptick.
On the stock level, top gainers included Sovereign Insurance (+14.2%), NSLTech (+12.9%), Cornerstone Insurance (+12.4%), NCR (+10.0%), and SCOA (+10.0%). Meanwhile, DAAR Communications (-21.1%), UPDC (-13.8%), AIICO (-13.6%), Champion Breweries (-13.3%), and PZ Cussons (-13.3%) ranked among the worst performers.
Analysts at Cowry Asset Limited expect the bearish sentiment to persist in the near term, although bargain-hunting in oversold stocks may trigger selective recoveries. They noted that macroeconomic pressures, including high inflation, foreign exchange volatility, and policy uncertainty, will continue to weigh on overall market momentum.
