Nigeria: Equities market dips further by 0.7% as sell-offs persist at NGX

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On Tuesday, bearish sentiment persisted at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) as sell-off activities in some bellwethers weighed on the overall market.

Primarily, sell-offs in Lafarge Africa and Transnational Corporation drove the All-Share Index (ASI) down by 0.7 percent to 138,737.64 basis points.

Equity investors consequently lost 0.67 percent as market capitalisation declined to N87.81 trillion.

Sequentially, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to -1.1 percent and +34.8 percent, respectively.

Measured by market breadth, sentiment was negative, with 46 tickers declining against 11 gainers. Wema Bank and AIICO Insurance recorded the most significant losses of the day, each falling by 10 percent, while NCR and Austin & Laz led the gainers, with their share prices appreciating by 10 percent.

By sector, the Insurance, Industrial Goods, Consumer Goods, and Banking indices declined by 2.2 percent, 1.5 percent, 1.4 percent, and 0.6 percent, respectively, while the Oil & Gas index advanced by 0.1 percent.

Trading activity was mixed, with the number of deals falling to 31,406 compared to 33,859 the previous day, while total trading volume declined slightly by 0.1 percent to 407.57 million units. Trading value, however, surged by 169.09 percent to N39.87 billion, up from N14.78 billion traded on Monday.

Guaranty Trust Holding Company was the most traded stock by volume at 32.61 million units, while Seplat Energy led by value at N28.45 billion.