The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) reversed recent gains as intense profit-taking in heavyweights like First HoldCo and Fidelity Bank erased ₦544.48 billion from equity market capitalization.
A fresh wave of selling pressure in banking stocks extended losses in the Nigerian equities market on Tuesday wiping ₦544.48 billion off investor wealth.
The Nigerian Exchange All-Share Index dropped 0.35% to end at 241,611.23 points, pulling its year-to-date gain back to 55.26%.
As a result, market capitalization shrank to ₦155.97 trillion, pointing to lingering bearish sentiment among investors.
Market breadth stayed negative at 0.61x, as 36 stocks posted losses against 22 gainers.
Haldane McCall, Veritas Capital Assurance, Tantalizer, R. T. Briscoe and Regal Insurance topped the gainers’ chart whereas Red Star Express, Transnational Express, Meyer, Chellarams and Fortis Global Insurance suffered the biggest losses.
Sectoral performance was very negative, with the banking sector hit hardest, falling by 1.82%. The consumer goods and oil & gas sectors also recorded modest losses, dropping by 0.03% and 0.01% respectively.
In contrast, the insurance sector managed a slight gain of 0.04%, while the industrial goods and commodities sectors both ended the session unchanged.
Despite the headline drop in the main index, trading activity surged with overall transaction value jumping 19.86% to ₦27.48 billion a sign of strong liquidity and heightened trading interest during the session.
However, trading volume plummeted by 67.69% to 429.84 million shares, with total executed deals falling 21.57% to 35,683 transactions.
This divergence between total volume and transaction value indicates that trading activity was concentrated in higher-priced stocks or larger block trades, keeping overall capital flow elevated even as total participation slowed.
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Market observers anticipate that equity trading will gradually regain its upward momentum as sentiment stabilizes. Nonetheless, ongoing profit-taking may temper the speed of this rebound and prolong short-term market volatility.
This recent pull-back follows a powerful multi-month expansion, leaving the All-Share Index with a solid 55.26% year-to-date return.
Investors are expected to maintain a cautious stance, carefully balancing new growth opportunities against the likelihood of profit-taking in the wake of the index’s strong year-to-date performance.
