WED MAY 20 2026-theGBJournal| The Nigerian equities market fell on Wednesday on sustained selloffs as investors weighed the outcome of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision to hold interest rates.
The All-Share Index declined by 1.02% to settle at 249,062.37 points.
Consequently, the year-to-date return moderated to 60.05% from 61.71% in the prior session.
Market capitalisation also depreciated by N1.62 trillion (1.00%), closing at N159.66 trillion.
Negative sentiment was driven by selling pressure in select banking names and heavyweight stocks such as BUACEMENT (-10.00%), FIRSTHOLDCO (-4.04%), and GTCO (-0.48%).
These losses outweighed gains in other stocks including WAPCO (+2.09%), TRANSCORP (+4.26%), and STANBIC (+2.41%).
Market activity was mixed, with trading volume declining by 14.74% while traded value increased marginally by 1.74%. ACCESSCORP (-1.17%) led the volume chart with 55.96mn units, while ZENITHBANK (+0.04%) led the value table with N4.81bn worth of trades.
Market breadth was positive at 1.75x, indicating that advancers outnumbered decliners. ABCTRANS (+9.99%) led the 42 gainers, while DANGCEM (-10.00%) topped the 24 laggards.
The NASD OTC market ended today’s session on a positive note, with the NASD Security Index (NSI) and market capitalization both rising by 0.32% to close at 4,171.19 points and N2.50 trillion, respectively.
However, market activity dropped sharply, as trading volume and value plunged by 99.88% and 93.71%, respectively.
SDCSCSPLC led the gainers, climbing by 9.09%, while SDNIPCOPLC led the losers’ chart, falling by 7.87%.
Meanwhile, the official FX rate appreciated by 0.1% to N1,374.25/USD.
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