NGX: Equities investors lose N1.92tn

Investors on the Nigerian Exchange Limited suffered a massive ₦1.92 trillion loss on Thursday as widespread sell pressure across major blue-chip stocks triggered a sharp market decline, reversing the previous rally. The downturn was driven largely by profit-taking activities in high-capitalisation stocks that had recently recorded strong price gains. Major decliners included BUACEMENT, which fell […]

Investors on the Nigerian Exchange Limited suffered a massive ₦1.92 trillion loss on Thursday as widespread sell pressure across major blue-chip stocks triggered a sharp market decline, reversing the previous rally.

The downturn was driven largely by profit-taking activities in high-capitalisation stocks that had recently recorded strong price gains. Major decliners included BUACEMENT, which fell 6.51%, DANGCEM down 4.89%, WAPCO which dropped 5.07%, and ZENITHBANK, which declined 3.10%.

At the close of trading, the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) plunged by 1.23% to settle at 239,734.61 basis points. The decline dragged the market’s year-to-date return lower to 54.06% while total market capitalisation fell to ₦153.86 trillion.

Despite the broad market decline, market breadth remained positive at 1.4x, with 41 gainers outperforming 30 losers. Leading gainers during the session included CAP, FTNCOCOA, ZICHIS, MEYER, and BERGER.

On the losers’ chart, the biggest declines were recorded by UPL, REDSTAREX, SKYAVN, CILEASING, and CONHALLPLC.

Sectoral performance across the market ended mixed. The Insurance Index led gainers with a 1.51% increase, while the Oil & Gas sector advanced by 0.39%. Commodity stocks gained 0.26%, and the Consumer Goods sector closed slightly positive at 0.10%.

However, heavy losses in industrial and banking stocks weighed significantly on overall market performance. The Industrial Index dropped 5.45%, making it the worst-performing sector of the day, while the Banking Index declined 1.11%.

Trading activity showed mixed performance as market turnover and volume rose strongly despite the decline in prices. Total trading volume increased by 29.34% to 1.83 billion shares, while transaction value climbed 21.44% to ₦72.17 billion. However, the number of deals executed during the session fell by 5.45% to 81,131 transactions.

Market analysts attributed the sharp correction mainly to profit-taking by investors following recent bullish momentum that had pushed several equities to elevated price levels. According to stockbrokers, investors are now repositioning portfolios ahead of fresh opportunities across key sectors.

Despite Thursday’s losses, market operators expect the Nigerian equities market to regain bullish momentum in Friday’s trading session as bargain hunters take advantage of lower prices and investors seek new entry positions in fundamentally strong stocks.