Investors lost more than ₦1.3 trillion on Monday as the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) opened the trading week on a negative note, marking its second consecutive bearish run.
High-intensity bearish activities dominated the local bourse, dragging key market performance indicators lower by 84 basis points.
The downward trend, which began last week, extended into Monday’s session due to aggressive profit-taking in recently appreciated mid-cap and blue-chip stocks across several major sectors.
The Industrial Goods and Insurance sectors led the day’s losses, driven primarily by significant selloffs in heavyweights such as BUA Cement, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and GTCO, among others.
The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) also shed 2,049.65 basis points during the trading session, representing a 0.84% decline to close at 241,749.11.
In tandem with the index slide, the overall stock market capitalization dropped by ₦1,315.28 billion, or 0.84%, to settle at ₦155.13 trillion by the close of business.
Despite the prevailing negative sentiment, market activity recorded an uptick, with the total volume and total value of executed trades increasing by 18.64% and 14.81%, respectively.
Stockbrokers reported that approximately 523.54 million units valued at ₦22,245.57 million were transacted across 59,945 deals.
FCMB emerged as the volume driver of the session, accounting for 19.64% of all units traded, followed by International Breweries (5.14%), Access Holdings (4.76%), McNichols (3.89%), and Stanbic IBTC (3.53%). On the value side, Seplat Energy drove the market, accounting for 16.27% of the total transaction value to become the most actively traded stock by turnover.
Market breadth also closed on a distinctly negative note, with only 19 gainers contrasted against 46 losers.
The Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF) topped the gainers’ chart with a 9.97% appreciation, trailed closely by International Breweries (+9.77%), NAHCO (+8.36%), UACN (+8.11%), Daar Communications (+6.67%), and Vitafoam (+5.87%).
Conversely, PZ Cussons topped the laggards’ log with a price depreciation of 10.00%, followed closely by BUA Cement (-9.99%), Red Star Express (-9.98%), R.T. Briscoe (-9.70%), C&I Leasing (-9.38%), and Caverton Offshore Support Group (-9.01%).
A sectoral review confirmed the bears’ dominance, as four of the five major market sectors recorded declines. The Industrial Goods sector plunged the most by 3.28%, followed by the Insurance sector at 2.18%, the Banking sector at 1.44%, and the Oil & Gas sector with a marginal drop of 0.09%. The Consumer Goods sector emerged as the lone survivor of the bearish onslaught, posting a modest gain of 0.59% by the end of the trading day.