Nigerian Stock Market Drops by N395bn Amid Intensified Profit-Taking

The Nigerian stock market witnessed a substantial decline of N395 billion due to intensified profit-taking activities by investors. The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index (ASI) closed at 165,512.18 basis points, reflecting a week-on-week decline of 0.37%.

Market capitalization dropped from N105.959 trillion to N106.354 trillion by the end of the week. The NGX Consumer Goods Index decreased by 2%, while the NGX Banking Index depreciated by 1.3%.

Despite the overall market decline, market breadth remained moderately positive with 57 advancing stocks compared to 40 decliners. Notable gainers included Deap Capital Management Trust, SCOA Nigeria, and NCR Nigeria, while Eterna led the decliners.

Total turnover stood at 3.748 billion shares worth N99.865 billion. Analysts caution investors to adopt a cautious approach due to ongoing profit-taking activities and a relatively soft trading environment.