Nigerian Stock Market Declines by ₦780bn on Thursday
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) suffered another setback on Thursday, as investors lost over ₦780 billion in market value due to persistent sell-offs in key stocks.
The bearish momentum was largely driven by heavy declines in BUA Cement and MTN Nigeria, which overshadowed modest gains in smaller equities.
Profit-taking in these blue-chip companies pulled the market into negative territory, with the benchmark indices closing 0.87% lower. Consequently, the NGX’s year-to-date return slipped to 36.34%, while BUA Cement recorded a sharp 9.96% decline in share price.
Other major losers included Julius Berger (-9.96%), AXA Mansard (-5.18%), Sterling Financial Holdings (-2.56%), MTN Nigeria (-2.25%), and Access Holdings (-1.64%). Smaller losses were recorded in Wema Bank (-0.84%), United Capital (-0.78%), Oando (-0.61%), Stanbic IBTC (-0.53%), AIICO Insurance (-0.51%), and FCMB (-0.46%).
The NGX All-Share Index fell by 1,233.86 points, closing at 140,332.44. Market activity also slowed, with transaction volume and value falling by 20.51% and 0.46% respectively. In total, 573.75 million units valued at ₦12.88 billion were traded across 25,881 deals.
FIDELITY Bank led activity, accounting for 16.8% of total trading volume and 15.54% of value. Other active stocks were VERITASKAP (6.40%), UNIVINSURE (5.76%), ACCESSCORP (5.31%), and JAIZ Bank (3.70%).
On the gainers’ list, JAIZ Bank advanced by 9.75%, followed by NSLTECH (+9.38%), OMATEK (+5.88%), CHAMS (+5.00%), and Custodian Investment (+4.86%).
Despite these advances, the broader market breadth was negative, with 45 decliners against 16 gainers. INTENEGINS, THOMASWY, UPL, and VERITASKAP all shed 9.98%, while BUA Cement (-9.96%), FTN Cocoa (-9.50%), Champion Breweries (-9.32%), and Mansard (-5.18%) featured among the worst performers.
Sectoral performance was mixed: Insurance (-4.69%), Industrial (-4.04%), Consumer Goods (-0.04%), and Oil & Gas (-0.06%) all recorded declines. However, Banking rose by 0.47% while the commodities segment remained flat.
Overall, the equity market capitalisation dropped by ₦780.64 billion to settle at ₦88.78 trillion.
