The Nigerian equities market began December on a cautious and bearish foot, shedding N200 billion in market value.
The benchmark All Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.22% to 143,210.33 points.
Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return eased to 39.14% from 39.44% in the previous week, while the market capitalization shed N197.32 billion, to settle N91.09 trillion
The negative tone was influenced by selloffs in INTBREW (-10.00%), DANGSUGAR (-1.61%), and WAPCO (-0.45%), which offset buying interest in UBA (+1.51%), CHAMPION (+8.11%), and AIICO (+6.34%).
Market activity was notably down, with the transaction volume and trade value lower by 19.74% and 6.82%, respectively.
CORNERST (-7.83%) dominated the trading activity, with 908.82 million units, valued at N4.59 billion.
The trading session closed with more laggards than advancers, highlighting investor caution. A total of 26 stocks recorded losses against 19 gainers.
The sell-off was most pronounced in the Consumer and Insurance counters, with International Breweries (-10.00%) leading the decliners, followed by RT Briscoe (-9.8%), and Cornerstone Insurance (-7.83%), which was heavily sold off after last week’s institutional accumulation.
Despite the negative sentiment, increased block trades were observed in select financial stocks, indicating ongoing accumulation by institutional investors’ interest in the stocks include Wema Bank, AccessCorp, Fidelity, and Zenith Bank.
On November 28, the market posted a gain of N180 billion in market capitalization and closed at N91.29 trillion, supported by modest gains in the Consumer (+0.57%), Banking (+0.25%), and Industrial sectors.
However, the Insurance sector, which paradoxically recorded the largest trade and dominated overall turnover, still closed negatively, highlighting structural weaknesses and speculative trades in the counter.
Monday’s reversal mirrors the bearish trend seen in recent weeks and has continued into December.