The Nigerian stock market faced another setback on Wednesday, with a staggering N48 billion wiped off its market capitalisation as widespread sell-offs unsettled investors.
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its downward trend, as market capitalisation plummeted from N66.484 trillion on Tuesday to N66.436 trillion. The All-Share Index (ASI) also fell by 77.53 points, closing at 106,090.38, down from 106,167.91 in the previous session.
This latest decline was primarily driven by sharp losses in major stocks, including Conoil and United Bank for Africa (UBA), as investors rushed to offload their shares. Market breadth was dismal, with 32 stocks closing in the red compared to just 19 that reported gains.
Conoil topped the losers’ list with a significant 10% drop, closing at N331.20. Berger Paints followed closely with a 9.81% decrease, ending at N18.85 per share. International Energy Insurance fell 9.79% to N1.75, while Multiverse Mining tumbled 9.66% to N7.95 per share. Regency Assurance also suffered, losing 8.70% to close at 63k per share.
Despite the prevailing market carnage, a handful of stocks managed to buck the trend. Tantaliser experienced an impressive 9.79% rise, closing at N3.14 per share, while Secure Electronic Technology soared 9.68% to 64k per share. Caverton Offshore Support Group increased by 9.09% to N3.00, and FTN Cocoa Processors climbed 6.51% to N1.80 per share. Jaiz Bank also saw a 6.04% uptick, ending at N3.51 per share.
In spite of the overall bearish outlook, trading activity surged, with an extraordinary 1.499 billion shares valued at N10.259 billion exchanged across 11,748 transactions— a substantial rise from the 324.59 million shares worth N7.918 billion traded on Tuesday.
Sovereign Trust Insurance dominated the day, accounting for 989.73 million shares valued at N987.48 million. Jaiz Bank followed with 187.35 million shares valued at N628.09 million, while Secure Electronic Technology had 43.51 million shares traded for N28.62 million. Zenith Bank recorded 22.81 million shares worth N1.085 billion, and United Capital Group posted 18.28 million shares valued at N346.42 million.
