The Nigerian equities market closed the week on a negative note, with investors recording a cumulative loss of ₦1.401 trillion following a broad-based price correction across major counters.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 1.11 per cent week-on-week to settle at 192,826.78 points, down from 194,989.77 recorded in the previous week.
Similarly, market capitalisation depreciated by 1.12 per cent to close at ₦123.763 trillion, compared with ₦125.164 trillion posted a week earlier. The decline reflects profit-taking in several stocks that had recently rallied on the local bourse.
Despite the weekly downturn, the market has still delivered a year-to-date return of 24 per cent, underscoring strong performance in the first two months of the year before the latest price correction.
Trading Pattern
The market recorded four bearish sessions and one bullish session during the review period, highlighting sustained selling pressure. A total of 5.494 billion shares valued at ₦196.709 billion were traded in 370,233 deals on the floor of the Exchange. This contrasts with the previous week’s turnover of 7.662 billion shares worth ₦252.566 billion exchanged in 345,118 deals.
Trading volume and value declined week-on-week, although the number of deals rose by 7.25 per cent, indicating smaller trade sizes amid cautious investor sentiment.
Market breadth closed negative at 0.46x, with 32 equities advancing against 69 decliners. This compares with 71 gainers and 41 losers recorded in the prior week. Meanwhile, 47 equities closed flat, higher than the 36 that remained unchanged in the previous week.
Sectoral Performance
Sectoral indices closed largely lower, with the exception of select segments. The NGX Banking, NGX Pension, NGX AFR Bank Value, NGX MERI Growth, NGX MERI Value, NGX Sovereign Bond and NGX Commodity indices appreciated by 0.71 per cent, 0.13 per cent, 2.35 per cent, 3.11 per cent, 0.92 per cent, 1.25 per cent and 1.27 per cent respectively.
The Oil and Gas index emerged as the top gainer, rising by 8.66 per cent week-on-week on improved investor appetite for energy stocks. Gains were supported by buying interest in Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc, Aradel Holdings Plc and Seplat Energy Plc.
The Consumer Goods sector followed with a 7.04 per cent gain, driven by bargain hunting in NASCON Allied Industries Plc, Nestle Nigeria Plc and McNichols Plc.
The Banking index advanced 5.68 per cent on renewed interest in FBN Holdings Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc. Conversely, the Industrial Goods index declined by 0.69 per cent week-on-week due to sell-offs in Beta Glass Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc. The Insurance index rose 4.73 per cent, buoyed by sustained demand for FGT Insurance Company Limited, Custodian Investment Plc, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc and Lasaco Assurance Plc.
Activity Chart
The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with 3.241 billion shares valued at ₦82.775 billion traded in 153,744 deals. This accounted for 58.99 per cent and 42.08 per cent of total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Oil and Gas Industry followed with 897.862 million shares worth ₦38.816 billion in 29,179 deals. The Services Industry placed third, with a turnover of 360.490 million shares valued at ₦5.782 billion in 22,971 deals.
Trading in the top three equities — Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc, Fortis Global Insurance Plc and Zenith Bank Plc — accounted for 1.576 billion shares valued at ₦33.464 billion in 30,055 deals. This contributed 28.68 per cent and 17.01 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Top Gainers and Losers
Fortis Global Insurance led the gainers’ chart, surging 56.7 per cent week-on-week. Other top performers included Okomu Oil, Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank, AXA Mansard Insurance and FCMB Group, which recorded gains of ₦34, ₦305.30, ₦3.25, ₦2.70 and ₦2 respectively.
On the flip side, Associated Bus Company topped the losers’ chart, shedding ₦2.25. Daar Communications, Tantalizers, Livingtrust Mortgage Bank and University Press also recorded significant losses, declining by 55 kobo, 90 kobo, 95 kobo and 80 kobo respectively.
Additional decliners included ABCTRANS (-25.0 per cent), DAARCOMM (-20.7 per cent), TANTALIZER (-16.7 per cent), LIVINGTRUST (-14.5 per cent) and UPL (-13.0 per cent), reflecting rotational flows and selective exits from previously rallied stocks.
Outlook
Stockbrokers at Cowry Asset Management Limited attributed the downturn to sustained profit-taking and cautious sentiment among investors. They projected that the market may remain mildly weak in the near term as bearish sentiment and subdued trading volumes continue to weigh on performance.
“With market breadth still negative and trading volumes subdued, investors are likely to adopt a selective approach, focusing on fundamentally sound and defensive stocks. We continue to advise investors to take positions in fundamentally sound counters,” the firm stated in its market report.
The latest performance underscores a cooling phase in the equities market after strong gains earlier in the year, as investors rebalance portfolios and lock in profits amid prevailing market dynamics.
