…At the NASD OTC market, the NSI index and market capitalization both dipped marginally by 0.08%, indicating a relatively flat trading session Monday
MON APRIL 07 2025-theGBJournal| The Nigerian equities market closed on a bearish note Monday, as renewed investor anxiety stemming from the U.S. government’s recent 14.0% tariff imposition dampened market sentiment within and globally.
Notably, sell pressures on GTCO (-5.6%) and TRANSCORP (-5.8%) dragged the All-Share Index down by 1.2% to 104,216.87 points. Consequently, the month-to-date and year-to-date returns settled lower at -1.4% and +1.3%, respectively.
The total volume of trade increased by 27.5% to 444.11 million units, valued at NGN11.15 billion, and exchanged in 15,690 deals. FCMB was the most traded stock by volume at 65.50 million units, while GTCO was the most traded stock by value at NGN2.33 billion.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative as the Banking (-7.6%), Insurance (-7.6%), Consumer Goods (-0.8%) and Oil & Gas (-0.7%) indices declined. The Industrial Goods index remained unchanged.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.2x), as 49 tickers lost relative to 9 gainers. OANDO (-10.0%) and NSLTECH (-10.0%) posted the most significant losses of the day, while VFDGROUP (+10.0%) and TOTAL (+9.6%) led the gainers.
At the NASD OTC market, the NSI index and market capitalization both dipped marginally by 0.08%, indicating a relatively flat trading session Monday.
However, the sharp drop in volume (-56.78%) and 10% decline in trade count suggest thinning investor participation. In contrast, value traded surged by 232.26%, pointing to larger ticket deals possibly in premium stocks despite overall market calmness.
FrieslandCampina WAMCO (SDFCWAMCO) was the standout performer, gaining N1.22 (+3.21%) to close at N38.02.
This signals renewed investor confidence in the stock, possibly driven by defensive fundamentals, dividend expectations, or improved earnings outlook in the consumer goods segment.
The price uptick in a generally quiet market underscores selective accumulation in fundamentally strong OTC counters.
Meanwhile, Global markets traded in bear market Monday as well, as the U.S President Trump remained adamant on his sweeping tariff move despite market meltdown.
The S&P 500 lost 0.6%, near bear market. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 483 points while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite eked out 0.1% gain in surprise rally.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index led the losses in Asia-Pacific market, declining 13.22% to 19,828.30. In mainland China, CSI 300 tumbled 7.05% to 3,589.44, its largest one-day drop since October 2024. Japan’s Nikkei 225 also fell 7.83% to 31,136.58, an 18 month low.
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