FRI AUG 14 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s equities market extended its sell-off on Thursday, with the NGX All-Share Index falling 0.39% to 243,017.38 points as broad-based declines in large stocks outweighed gains elsewhere and pushed the market’s year-to-date return down to 56.17%.
Market capitalisation fell by the same margin to N156.88 trillion, meaning the benchmark has now lost about 2.22% over the past three sessions, after declines of 0.73% on Tuesday and 1.12% on Wednesday.
Unilever Nigeria led the declines, falling 9.97%, followed by Chellaram and Cornerstone Insurance, which dropped 9.66% and 9.09%, respectively.
Gains in NEM, Wema Bank and SterlingNG offered limited support, with NEM rising 6.25%.
The retreat was accompanied by a sharp increase in trading activity.
Volume jumped 191.22% to 4.24 billion shares, while transaction value surged 141.92% to N50.65 billion.
Cornerstone Insurance accounted for much of the activity, with 3.64 billion shares worth N18.36 billion changing hands.
Market breadth also deteriorated sharply, with 39 stocks declining against 21 gainers, producing a negative breadth ratio of 0.54x.
We note that the combination of falling prices and sharply higher turnover suggests that the market’s recent weakness is becoming more substantive, with investors actively repositioning rather than simply stepping away from equities.
The important signal is not just the 0.39% decline in the index but the significant increase in turnover.
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NASD reverses losses
The NASD OTC market moved in the opposite direction, with the NASD Security Index rising 0.27% to 4,544.20 points and market capitalisation increasing to N2.73 trillion.
Its YTD return improved to 28.23%.
Trading activity surged, with volume jumping 1,173.77% to 1.91 million units, while transaction value increased 1,029.52% to N210.84 million across 34 trades.
SD11PLC was the strongest performer, gaining 9.09%, while SDFCWAMCO fell 6.25% to record the largest decline.
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