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Nigeria’s equities market extended its recent correction on Friday, August 14, with investors continuing to take profits across major stocks and pushing the market to its fifth consecutive losing session.
The sustained selloff erased about N3.8 trillion from total market capitalisation during the week, as the benchmark NGX All-Share Index (ASI) fell another 0.16% to 242,619.20 points, from 243,017.38 points recorded in the previous session.
Market capitalisation consequently declined by approximately N257.06 billion, closing at N156.62 trillion, compared with N156.88 trillion on Thursday.
The latest decline leaves the ASI about 2.38% below Monday’s record close of 248,529.75 points, while the market has surrendered N3.80 trillion in value since the beginning of the week. Despite the correction, the index remains strongly positive year-to-date, with a 55.91% gain, while market capitalisation is up 57.61%.
Dangote Sugar, ETI Lead Blue-Chip Declines
Large-cap stocks remained under pressure during the session, with Dangote Sugar Refinery emerging as the biggest heavyweight drag on the market.
The company’s shares dropped 7.79% to N64.55, shedding N5.45 per share from its previous N70 close.
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) also weighed heavily on the market, falling 5.41% to N70, while Nigerian Breweries declined 2.44% to N68.
Other notable decliners included Fidelity Bank, down 2.27% to N21.50; United Bank for Africa (UBA), which fell 1.09% to N45.50; and NEM Insurance, down 1.76% to N33.40.
The pressure was not uniform across the banking sector. Access Holdings gained 2.08% to N27.05, Zenith Bank advanced 0.49% to N122.60, while GTCO rose 0.39% to N128.50.
Oando also gained 1.15% to N35.10, while Honeywell Flour Mills recovered 3.36% to N16.90.
Insurance Index Suffers Sharpest Sector Decline
The insurance sector recorded the steepest decline among the major sectoral indices, falling 1.49% to 1,128.74 points.
The decline came despite strong performances from some individual insurance companies. International Energy Insurance was the day’s biggest gainer, rising 9.92% to N5.32, while Guinea Insurance climbed 6.67% to N0.80.
The Oil & Gas Index fell 0.63%, while the Consumer Goods Index declined 0.46%, pressured partly by Dangote Sugar’s selloff.
The Banking Index also slipped 0.23%.
By contrast, the Industrial Goods Index ended flat at 10,379.10 points, while the Commodity Index was essentially unchanged at 1,743.52 points.
Trading Activity Also Weakens
The market’s decline was accompanied by lower trading activity.
A total of 1.413 billion shares changed hands during the session, representing a 66.64% drop in volume.
Trading value stood at N45.312 billion, down 10.53%, while the number of deals declined 5.60% to 39,134.
The combination of falling prices and reduced activity suggests that investors are becoming more selective following the market’s powerful rally earlier in the year.
Profit-Taking Drives Market Correction
The latest downturn follows a record-setting run that pushed the NGX market capitalisation above N160 trillion at the start of the week.
Since then, investors have increasingly locked in gains across banking, insurance, consumer goods and oil and gas stocks, resulting in five consecutive sessions of losses.
Although the weekly decline represents one of the sharpest short-term reversals since the market’s June correction, the broader market remains substantially higher on a year-to-date basis.
With the NGX now trading roughly 2.4% below Monday’s peak, attention will turn to whether profit-taking eases when trading resumes or whether selling pressure continues into the new week.
The mixed performance among banking stocks could offer an early indication of selective buying interest returning to some large-cap counters, even as the wider market remains under correction.
