Market activity on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) sustained a strong momentum during Tuesday’s trading session, with volume and value traded soaring by 258.35% and 50.95%, respectively, as 1.97 billion units exchanged hands for N30.18 billion across 23,006 deals.
But then, this strong momentum did not translate to value addition for investors as the local bourse closed lower by 0.33% to close at 146,940.29, slipping below the 147,000 mark of the preceding day. Consequently, investors’ wealth also contracted, with market capitalization falling by N310.85 billion to N93.65 trillion at the close of the day’s trading session.
Similarly, data from the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) the supervisory group of the market, showed that sectoral performance was bearish, with three of the five tracked indices closing in the red as the Oil & Gas index remained the sole gainer, marking its first positive close of the week, while the Consumer Goods index closed flat.
According to the data, the Insurance index led the laggards, declining by 1.53%. This came despite gains in INTENEGINS (+6.52%), WAPIC (+5.66%), LIVINGTRUST (+4.99%) and LINKASSURE (+4.55%), as profit-taking in NEM (-5.66%), CUSTODIAN (-5.65%), VERITASKAP (-6.95%) and PRESTIGE (-6.88%) offset those advances.
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Also, the Industrial Goods index dipped by 0.06% following weak performances in the stocks in WAPCO, AUSTINLAZ and CUTIX just as in the Banking space, losses in ZENITHBANK, ACCESSCORP and WEMABANK robbed off the gains in GTCO and FIRSTHOLDCO, culminating in a marginal 0.05% decline for the index.
The NGX report reflected that ETRANZACT exhibited outstanding performance, dominating both the volume and value charts after a strategic off-market transaction. Specifically, it accounted for 52% of total market volume, trading 1.026 billion units worth N7.49 billion; though its share price remained unchanged.
According to the NGX report, the market overall sentiment was bearish as market breadth declined sharply to 0.66x from the previous day’s 2.73x, with 32 decliners outweighing 21 advancers, a trend that was further reflected in the unimpressive up/down ratio of 0.24x.
Nevertheless, the NGX All Share Index (NGXASI) at 146,940.29 remained above its 7-day and 20-day moving averages of 145,763.86 and 144,982.48, respectively suggesting that the short-term upward trend remained intact, even though the 50-day moving average at 147,658.86 continued to pose a strong resistance level.
Meanwhile, reports from the supervisory agency of the commodities, the Nigerian Commodities Exchange, showed that oil prices slowed to USD52.49 per barrel as renewed expectations of a surplus in 2026 reinforced by IEA and OPEC+ outlooks, as well as restored output by Iraq from the West Qurna-2 field continued to outweigh geopolitical concerns ahead of key market reports.
At the foreign exchange (FX) market, the Naira depreciated on Monday against the USD, closing at N1,451.86/$1 at the official window to open the week.
