Nigerian Stock Market Suffers Setback as Investors Lose N164.8bn

On Tuesday, a downturn occurred in the Nigerian stock market causing a reverse from gains achieved on the prior trading day. The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) saw its equities trading take a negative turn, much to the disadvantage of investors.

Bearish Trend Leads to Losses

Investors witnessed the All-Share Index (ASI) fall by 0.44 percent to close at 71,041.05 basis points, under the control of bearish market forces. This decline resulted from significant sell-offs in major companies. Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, and Guaranty Trust Holding Company experienced drops in share prices of 2.44 percent, 0.42 percent, and 0.90 percent, respectively, contributing to the overall dip in the market index.

Market Indicators Show Decreased Returns

As a consequence of the day's losses, the month-to-date and year-to-date returns were adjusted to +2.6 percent and +38.6 percent. The aggregate loss incurred by investors on that day was N164.76 billion, which saw the market capitalization descend to N38.88 trillion.

Negative Market Sentiment Observed

The negative sentiment was evident through the market breadth, with 40 tickers closing lower in comparison to 18 that saw gains. Companies such as Omatek Venture and Ikeja Hotel notably suffered the largest decreases in their share prices, at 10.0 percent and 9.9 percent respectively, whereas Secure Electronic Technology and Mecure Industries had shares surge by 10.0 percent.

Mixed Performances Across Sectors

Sector analysis showed a mixed bag of performances, with insurance and industrial goods indices declining by 1.3 percent each, while the banking index experienced a minor growth of 0.1 percent. The Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices remained stable without any significant changes.

Trading Volume Shows Decline

Compared to the preceding session, the trading turnover saw a decrease by 5.48 percent. The transactions conducted involved 534.62 million shares at a value of N5.62 billion, carried out in 8,136 deals. Access Holdings topped the trading charts with 52.36 million units, equating to a total value of N942.76 million.

Equities, Market, Investors