THUR APRIL 10 2025-theGBJournal| Equities market on Wednesday relapsed as profit-taking activities resurfaced, with ETI (-9.9%), GTCO (-1.7%) and UBA (-2.6%) weighing down the bourse by 0.2% to 104,187.00 points.
The Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -1.4% and +1.2%, respectively while Market capitalisation shed N65.47 trillion
The total volume traded declined by 18.2% to 376.62 million units, valued at N11.89 billion, and exchanged in 11,576 deals. GTCO was the most traded stock by volume and value at 62.88 million units and N4.10 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was mixed as the Banking (-1.6%) and Consumer Goods (-0.2%) indices declined, while the Insurance (+2.7%) and Oil & Gas (+0.5%) indices advanced. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.3x), as 31 tickers gained relative to 23 losers. HMCALL (-10.0%) and LEARNAFRCA (-10.0%) led the losers, while LIVESTOCK (+10.0%) and VFDGROUP (+10.0%) posted the highest gains of the day.
The NASD OTC market continued its downtrend, as the NASD Security Index declined by 0.10% to 3,277.39, alongside an equivalent drop in market capitalisation to N1.89tn.
This reflects a broad market pullback, possibly driven by weak investor sentiment.
Trading activity declined sharply, with volume plunging 28.42% to 1,854.49 units and value down 74.83% to N26.51m. The number of deals also fell by 35.29%, signalling reduced investor’s participation.
Meanwhile, the official FX rate depreciated by 1.9% to N1,645.00/USD, despite significant CBN intervention, reflecting persistent demand pressures from foreign portfolio investors and local corporates.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spent $669 million in Q1 2025 to stabilize the naira, responding to lower US dollar inflows and rising demand for forex, including directing Bureau de Change (BDC) operators to purchase $25,000 at the official rate.
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