Sell-offs in some large-cap equities like MTN Nigeria, BUA Foods, Dangote Sugar, Lafarge Africa, UBA, and others brought down the domestic stock market by 0.40 per cent on Thursday after closing positive in the past six consecutive trading sessions.
The profit-taking was prominent in the energy and consumer goods sectors, according to data harvested from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by Business Post.
Yesterday, the consumer goods counter went down by 1.44 per cent, the energy sector depreciated by 1.25 per cent, and the banking index weakened by 0.57 per cent.
However, the industrial goods space appreciated by 2.11 per cent, and the insurance industry grew by 1.08 per cent, while the commodity sector closed flat.
When Customs Street ended for the session at 2:30 pm, the All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 485.01 points to 120,772.68 points from 121,257.69 points and the market capitalisation declined by N307 billion to N76.454 trillion from N76.761 trillion.
Investor sentiment turned bearish yesterday after the bourse ended with 33 price gainers and 37 price losers, representing a negative market breadth index.
Thomas Wyatt lost 10.00 per cent to close at N2.07, NAHCO depreciated by 9.99 per cent to N91.00, Oando tumbled by 9.96 per cent to N61.90, ABC Transport crashed by 8.92 per cent to N2.45, and Champion Breweries slumped by 8.34 per cent to N10.00.
On the flip side, Unilever Nigeria appreciated by 10.00 per cent to N51.70, SFS REIT also gained 10.00 per cent to sell for N249.25, Neimeth jumped by 9.98 per cent to N5.40, UAC Nigeria improved by 9.97 per cent to N38.05, and CAP advanced by 9.92 per cent to N47.10.
The market participants bought and sold 893.0 million shares valued at N18.2 billion in 25,375 deals during the session compared with the 861.7 million shares worth N26.2 billion traded in 22,896 deals at midweek, representing a growth in the trading volume and number of deals by 3.63 per cent and 10.83 per cent apiece and a 30.53 per cent shortfall in the trading value.
The activity chart was led by Ellah Lakes on Thursday with 113.5 million stocks worth N851.1 million, Access Holdings sold 76.2 million equities for N1.7 billion, Caverton exchanged 64.9 million shares valued at N334.8 million, Japaul transacted 61.6 million equities for N126.7 million, and Zenith Bank traded 60.6 million shares worth N3.5 billion.