FRI JULY 03 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s equities market extended its losing streak on Thursday, with heavyweight banking and industrial stocks weighing on investor sentiment as the benchmark index fell for a second consecutive session, erasing additional market value despite a sharp increase in trading activity.
Selling pressure in key blue-chip counters overshadowed improved liquidity, while the naira strengthened in the official foreign exchange market.
The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) declined 0.61% to close at 224,321.97 points, driven by losses in WAPCO (-6.5%), FIRSTHOLDCO (-8.2%), and ZENITHBANK (-3.0%).
The latest decline trimmed the market’s month-to-date return to -2.2%, while the year-to-date gain moderated to 44.2%. Consequently, investors lost about ₦0.89 trillion in market value as total capitalization fell to ₦143.95 trillion.
Trading activity, however, surged significantly, indicating heightened portfolio repositioning by investors.
Total transaction volume jumped 95.5% from the previous session to 855.40 million shares, worth ₦28.42 billion, exchanged across 51,609 deals.
STERLINGNG dominated activity by volume after accounting for 459.59 million shares traded, while ARADEL emerged as the session’s most actively traded stock by value, recording transactions worth ₦4.51 billion.
The selloff was broad-based, with all major sectoral indices ending in negative territory.
The Insurance Index recorded the steepest decline, shedding 2.5%, followed by the Banking Index, which fell 2.2% amid sustained profit-taking in large-cap lenders.
The Industrial Goods Index lost 1.0%, while the Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices slipped 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.
Market breadth underscored the weak sentiment, with 31 stocks declining against 12 gainers, translating to a negative breadth ratio of 0.4x.
Among the laggards, GUINEAINS led the losers with a 10.0% decline, followed closely by INTENEGINS, which dropped 9.8%.
On the positive side, AUSTINLAZ and LEARNAFRCA each advanced 10.0% to emerge as the session’s strongest performers.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s currency posted a notable gain in the official foreign exchange market.
The naira appreciated 1.2% against the U.S. dollar to close at ₦1,362.00/$, offering a positive backdrop for investors even as risk appetite in the domestic equity market remained subdued.
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