Nigerian Equities Market Declines by N1.89 Trillion

Last week, the Nigerian equities market continued its bearish trend, declining by N1.89 trillion, closing at N156.624 trillion, down from N158.513 trillion the previous week. The NGX All Share Index decreased by 2954.40 basis points to 242619.20 points from 245573.60 points two weeks prior, moderating the year-to-date return to 56.01%.

The market breadth was negative, with 59 stocks declining compared to 26 gainers, indicating a broad-based negative sentiment. The downturn was attributed to ongoing profit-taking following the market's strong performance earlier in the year.

Trading activity showed mixed results, with the number of deals falling by 14.41% to 224,146, while trading volume surged by 126.78% to 12.153 billion shares, and transaction value increased by 26.61% to N176.29 billion. The Financial Services Industry led trading, contributing 92.25% of total equity turnover volume, followed by the ICT and Services Industries.

All sectors closed negatively, with the Insurance sector experiencing the highest decline of 2.72%.