WED AUG 05 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s equities market reversed course on Tuesday as investors took profits following the previous session’s modest advance, pulling the benchmark index back into negative territory.
The session’s healthy bout of profit-taking dragged the NGX All-Share Index down 0.38% to 244,802.83 points, wiping out Monday’s 0.2% gain, while market capitalisation declined by the same margin to N158.02 trillion.
The sell-off trimmed the market’s year-to-date return to 57.32%, down from 57.91% a day earlier.
The negative sentiment was driven by sell-offs in FIRSTHOLDCO (-2.99%), UBA (-2.17%) and NESTLE (-2.76%), which outweighed gains in OANDO (+3.30%), NEIMETH (+8.43%) and AIICO (+3.47%).
Trading activity was mixed, with total traded volume increasing by 69.11% to 1.56 billion units, while the value of transactions declined by 24.37% to N28.63 billion.
JAPAULGOLD (+0.00%) led the volume chart with 904.42mn units traded, while MTNN (+0.00%) topped the value chart with N3.25bn worth of trades.
Market breadth was negative at 0.31x, underscoring the broadly negative market sentiment, as twelve (12) stocks advanced against thirty-nine (39) decliners. LIVESTOCK (+9.49%) was the top gainer, while MULTIVERSE (-10.00%) was the top loser of the session.
Analysts tell theG&BJournal that the pullback is consistent with cautious positioning ahead of fresh corporate earnings and macroeconomic catalysts, suggesting that while near-term volatility may persist, underlying sentiment towards fundamentally strong stocks remains constructive.
In contrast, the NASD OTC market closed today’s session on a positive note, with the NASD Security Index (NSI) gaining 0.89% to settle at 4,563.96 points. Consequently, market capitalisation also increased by 0.89% to N2.74trn, while the market’s year-to-date (YTD) return improved to 28.79%, from 27.66% in the previous session.
Market activity was mixed, as total traded volume advanced by 9.03% to 1.61mn units, while the value of transactions declined by 26.99% to N47.63mn. A total of 33 trades were executed during the session.
Market sentiment was buoyed by SDCSCSPLC (+6.51%), which emerged as the session’s top gainer. Conversely, SDFCWAMCO (-6.00%) emerged as the top loser.
Meanwhile, the official FX rate appreciated by 0.1% to N1,364.19/USD.
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