The Nigerian equities market reversed bullish trend last week, as N1.9 trillion was lost to widespread profit taking across major stocks
The market was bullish penultimate week, as investors gained N3.73 trillion on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX.
However, last week’s trading was characterised by heavy selling pressure across banking, industrial goods, consumer, oil and gas, and insurance stocks, with the bearish sentiment extending to several highly liquid stocks that had supported the market’s earlier rally. Specifically, the NGX market capitalisation declined to N157.587 trillion from N259.558 trillion recorded penultimate week.
In similar manner, the NGX All Share Index, ASI, another major performance indicator, nosedived by 1.6% to close at 243,052.74 points from 246,992.44 points penultimate week.
Trading on the NGX closed the week with total transactions across equities, bonds and exchange traded products, ETPs, valued at about N130.73 billion.
Analysts noted that the broad nature of the sell off suggests that investors were not simply reacting to company specific developments but actively reducing risk, and locking in gains after the market’s strong Year to Date,YtD performance. The sharp deterioration in market breadth further reinforced the bearish tone, as only a handful of stocks attracted buying interest while losses spread across much of the exchange.
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