The equities trading session ended on Thursday at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), on a bearish note, with the All-Share Index (ASI) dropping by 0.25 percent to 97,233.07 basis points.
Market capitalisation also decreased by 0.25 percent to N58.92 trillion, resulting in investor losses of approximately N148.2 billion due to intensified sell-offs.
The Nigerian equities market reversed the previous day’s gains, as sell pressures on BUA Cement undermined market performance, with its share value dipping by 5.9 percent.
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Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -0.4 percent and +30.0 percent, respectively.
Measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, with 30 tickers gaining relative to 15 losers.
Flour Mills of Nigeria, The Initiates, John Holt, International Energy Insurance, and Sunu Assurance Nigeria led the gainers with respective share price increases of 10.00 percent, 10.00 percent, 9.86 percent, 9.85 percent, and 9.73 percent.
On the other hand, Abbey Mortgage Bank, ABC Transport, Conoil, BUA Cement, and Custodian Insurance led the decliners, with share price drops of 9.77 percent, 9.45 percent, 6.15 percent, 5.93 percent, and 4.76 percent.
Sector performance was mixed: the banking, insurance, and consumer goods sectors saw gains of 0.53 percent, 0.95 percent, and 0.56 percent, respectively, while the oil/gas and industrial goods sectors recorded declines of 1.31 percent and 1.85 percent, respectively.
Trading activity remained strong, with volume and value up by 18.02 percent and 4.08 percent, although the number of trades fell by 4.50 percent.
In total, 291.53 million shares were traded across 7,931 deals, amounting to a value of N7.82 billion. Access Holdings led in both trading volume and value, with 60.4 million units valued at N1.5 billion across 466 deals.
