Nigerian Stock Market Drops N479bn on Profit-Taking

The Nigerian stock market saw a significant drop of N479 billion, primarily attributed to profit-taking activities in PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc and other firms. The Nigerian Exchange Limited's All-Share Index (NGX ASI) fell by 874.00 points, or 0.35%, closing at 246,686.66 basis points.

Year-to-date, the market has returned a moderate 1.5% and 58.5% respectively. The market breadth remained weak, with 37 stocks declining against 14 gainers.

Notably, International Energy Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 9.86%, closing at N5.46 per share, followed by Trans Nationwide Express at 7.14% and Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals at 6.80%. PZ Cussons Nigeria led the losers' chart with a 10% decline, closing at N88.20.

The total trading volume decreased by 47.9% to 587.64 million units, valued at N23.06 billion across 63,954 transactions. Access Holdings topped the activity chart with 113.096 million shares traded.