SAT MARCH 01 2025-theGBJournal| The Nigerian equities market was broadly bearish this week, closing lower in three of the five trading sessions, as investors reacted to last week’s lower-than-expected inflation data, which triggered a selloff in banking stocks.
Sell pressures on ETI (-12.4%), FBNH (-4.56% w/w), ACCESSCORP (-3.40% w/w), WAPCO (-3.85% w/w) and GTCO (-2.9%) weighed on market performance, driving the All-Share Index (ASI) lower by 0.6% w/w to 107,821.39 points, with the month-to-date and year-to-date returns moderating to +3.2% and +4.8%, respectively, while the market capitalization lost N421.28 billion w/w after gaining in two of the five trading.
All other indices finished lower with the exception of NGX AseM, NGX Oil and Gas, NGX Lotus II, NGX Sovereign Bond and NGX Commodity which appreciated by 0.04%, 0.60%, 0.33%, 0.81% and 0.53% respectively.
Big gains were seen in ARADEL (+2.60%w/w), HONYFLOUR (+4.50% w/w) NB (+2.35% w/w).
Trading in the top three equities namely Zenith Bank Plc, FCMB Group Plc and Access Holdings Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 539.768 million shares worth N16.528 billion in 7,392 deals, contributing 29.21% and 32.16% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively
Trading activity was mixed, as trading volume declined by 8.2% w/w, while trading value advanced by 3.2% w/w.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative, as the Insurance (-4.6%), Banking (-3.1%), Industrial Goods (-0.5%) and Consumer Goods (-0.4%) indices recorded losses, while the Oil & Gas (+0.6%) index was the sole gainer of the day.
Overall, Twenty-seven equities gained in price during the week, lower than twenty-eight equities in the previous week while sixty equities fell in price, higher than fifty-eight in the previous week, while sixty-three equities remained unchanged, lower than sixty-four recorded in the previous week.
At the NASD OTC market, the NSI and market capitalization rose by 0.31%, indicating steady investor confidence despite a sharp decline in trading volume.
The surge in executed trades (+166.67%) suggests heightened market activity.
Despite the index gains, market liquidity showed signs of strain as trade volume plummeted by 50.27% and total trade value fell 14.90%, signaling reduced large-ticket transactions SDNASDPLC emerged as the session’s top performer, surging 9.96%, while SDFCWAMCO led the losers with a 4.62% decline.
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