The Nigerian stock market closed Tuesday’s trading session in negative territory, with investors losing close to N596 billion as sustained selloffs in heavyweight stocks dragged down market indices.
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) saw its market capitalisation fall by N595.80 billion to about N87.81 trillion, representing a 0.67% decline.
Bearish sentiments dominated trading, with major sell pressures hitting large-cap counters such as Lafarge Africa (WAPCO, -9.9%) and Transcorp (-4.3%). Cadbury Nigeria, Dangote Sugar Refinery, and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) also recorded notable declines.
The NGX All-Share Index fell by 0.67% to close at 138,780.55 points, while the year-to-date (YtD) gain moderated to +34.83%.
Trading activity weakened slightly, with total volume slipping 0.1% to 407.57 million units valued at N39.87 billion across 31,406 deals. GTCO led the activity chart by volume with 32.61 million units, while Seplat Energy was the most traded by value, accounting for N28.45 billion.
Sectoral performance showed broad weakness:
Insurance (-2.2%), dragged lower mainly by AIICO (-10%).
Industrial Goods (-1.5%), weighed by selloffs in WAPCO (-9.88%).
Consumer Goods (-1.4%), pressured by Dangote Sugar (-5.17%) and International Breweries (-6.72%).
Banking (-0.6%), pulled down by Wema Bank (-10%).
Oil & Gas (+0.1%), the only gainer, buoyed by buying interest in Oando (+1.04%).
Market sentiment remained weak, with a negative market breadth ratio of 0.23x as losers (48) far outnumbered gainers (11). Wema Bank (-10.0%), AIICO (-10.0%), Consolidated Hallmark (-10.0%), and Prestige Assurance (-10.0%) were the worst performers, while NCR (+9.96%) and Austin Laz (+10.0%) topped the gainers’ list.
Overall, the day’s trading reflected broad-based profit-taking as investors trimmed positions across multiple sectors, leading to a sharp erosion of market value by nearly N596 billion.
