SAT APRIL 12 2025-theGBJournal| The ongoing global trade tensions and decline in oil prices sparked selling activity not only on the global markets but also on the Nigerian equities market during the week, as investors retained a cautious approach, with risk-off sentiments remaining dominant.
Sell pressures on MTNN (-4.1%), TRANSCORP (-8.4%), ACCESSCORP (-9.7%), UBA (-4.2%), ETI (-8.7%), GTCO (-2.0%), OANDO (-7.1%) and FIRSTHOLDCO (-3.9%) drove the All-Share Index lower by 0.9% w/w to 104,563.34 points Friday.
All other indices finished lower with the exception of NGX Growth and Sovereign Bond Indices, which appreciated by 0.37% and 3.42% respectively while the NGX AseM index closed flat.
Market Capitalization equally dropped by N440.51 billion, down 0.67% w/w to settle at approximately N65.71 trillion, indicating broad-based investor profit-taking and sectoral pullbacks despite intermittent rebounds during the week.
Trading in the top three equities namely Access Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc and Zenith Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 629.327 million shares worth N25.820 billion in 12,742 deals, contributing 30.06% and 48.75% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively, according to NGX Exchange data.
A total turnover of 2.094 billion shares worth N52.967 billion in 64,612 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.183 billion shares valued at N28.868 billion that exchanged hands last week in 42,397 deals.
Overall, Twenty-seven equities gained in price during the week, higher than twenty-three equities in the previous week. Fifty-six equities depreciated in price, higher than
fifty-one in the previous week, while sixty-four equities remained unchanged, lower than seventy-three recorded in the previous week.
Meanwhile, the NASD OTC Securities Exchange experienced a significant spike in trading activity, with volume and value soaring by 740.75% and 2,268.85% respectively.
This sharp increase in transactions suggests heightened investor repositioning or offloading activity amid bearish sentiment, as the NSI declined by 0.31%, wiping N6.0 billion off market capitalisation.
The session was marked by a fully negative breadth, with no gainers recorded. Key decliners included SDACORN (-10.00%) and SDFCWAMCO (-7.66%), reflecting persistent downward pressure on select large-cap OTC stocks and signalling weak investor confidence in the short term.
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