Nigeria's equities market closed lower on Wednesday as investors booked profits across several stocks, wiping N110 billion from market capitalisation. The benchmark All-Share Index pushed down by 0.07 per cent. Market capitalisation declined from N162.495 trillion at the opening to N162.385 trillion at the close. The All-Share Index fell by 176.75 points, from 250,273.50 to 250,096.75.
Despite the decline, the market retained a strong year-to-date performance of 60.72 per cent. This highlights the continued gains recorded by investors in the equities market this year. Trading activity weakened compared with the previous session. Investors exchanged 446.99 million shares valued at N22.95 billion in 38,905 transactions. This is compared with 579.25 million shares worth N36.07 billion across 41,072 deals on Tuesday.
The decline represented a 22.85 per cent drop in traded volume. Both market value and the number of transactions also fell. This indicates reduced trading activity as investors took profits from some equities that had recorded gains. The negative performance was driven by sell-offs in 31 equities. The market breadth closed at 31 losers against 23 gainers.
Thomas Wyatt Nigeria led the decliners, falling 9.74 per cent to close at N2.41 per share. Sovereign Trust Insurance followed with a 7.60 per cent decline to N2.31. Livingtrust Mortgage Bank dropped 7.25 per cent to N3.20. Neimeth International Pharmaceutical lost 4.61 per cent to close at N7.25. Veritas Kapital Assurance declined by 4.42 per cent to N1.08 per share.
The profit-taking reflects the tendency of investors to lock in gains after significant price appreciation. With the market still recording a year-to-date return above 60 per cent, some investors may be reassessing positions and realising profits. This is particularly in stocks that have experienced strong rallies. However, 23 equities recorded gains. Tripple Gee led the gainers’ chart, rising 9.96 per cent to N3.09 per share.
Critical Minerals Financing Corp gained 9.86 per cent to close at N4.01. Champion Breweries advanced 9.50 per cent to N10.95. WAPIC increased by 9.24 per cent to N2.60. Multi-Trex Integrated Foods rose 8.33 per cent to close at 39 kobo per share. Banking stocks continued to play a major role in market activity. Zenith Bank emerged as the most actively traded equity by both volume and value.
Zenith Bank recorded transactions involving 34.90 million shares. This represents 7.81 per cent of total market volume. In value terms, Zenith Bank accounted for N4.74 billion. This is equivalent to 20.69 per cent of total market value traded during the session. The performance highlights the continued importance of large-cap banking stocks to liquidity on the Nigerian Exchange.
Key points
- The Nigerian equities market closed lower on Wednesday, driven by profit-taking across several stocks.
- Despite the decline, the market retained a strong year-to-date performance of 60.72 per cent.
- Banking stocks, particularly Zenith Bank, continued to play a major role in market activity.
