NGX sheds N104bn as bearish sentiment persists

Nigeria’s equities market extended its losses on Thursday, shedding N103.59 billion in market value as persistent selling pressure across major sectors outweighed gains in a handful of stocks.

The decline pushed the market capitalisation of listed equities down to N159.05 trillion, while the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index fell 0.07 per cent to close at 244,956.94 points, moderating its year-to-date return to 57.41 per cent.

Market breadth remained negative, reflecting investors’ continued preference for selling over buying, as 22 stocks declined against 16 gainers, translating to a breadth ratio of 0.73 times.

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The session’s performance highlights the fragile sentiment prevailing in the market, where profit-taking and cautious positioning have continued to weigh on share prices following the substantial gains recorded earlier in the year.

Sectoral performance reinforced the bearish trend, with four of the six tracked indices closing lower. The insurance index led the sectoral declines, falling 0.54 per cent, followed by the consumer goods index, which shed 0.30 per cent.

The banking index declined by 0.16 per cent, while the oil and gas index lost 0.11 per cent. The industrial goods index bucked the trend, advancing 0.10 per cent, while the commodity index closed flat.

The broad-based weakness suggests that selling pressure was not confined to a single segment of the market, although the industrial goods sector managed to attract enough buying interest to close in positive territory.

At the stock level, AVA Capital, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Tantalizers, International Energy Insurance and VFD Group emerged as the five best-performing equities, while Thomas Wyatt Nigeria, Austin Laz, Secure Electronic Technology, UPDC and Coronation Energy recorded the largest price declines.

Trading activity presented a mixed picture, with investors exchanging more shares despite a reduction in the value of transactions and the number of deals executed during the session.

A total of 360.75 million shares valued at N20.32 billion changed hands in 31,401 deals. Trading volume rose 1.87 per cent, while transaction value declined 13.91 per cent and the number of deals fell 3.63 per cent.

Market analysts expect the equities market to remain sensitive to shifts in investor sentiment and profit-taking activities in the near term, with bargain-hunting in fundamentally strong stocks offering a potential source of support.

However, sustained selling pressure could limit any recovery, particularly if investors continue to lock in profits amid uncertainty over the direction of share prices.