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The Nigerian stock market snapped its recent momentum yesterday as targeted profit-taking in heavyweights like BUA Cement Plc pulled the overall index down.

Profit-taking refers to investors selling off shares that have recently increased in value to lock in their gains. Despite an underlying positive mood across the trading floor, the mid-session sell-offs managed to shave 0.09% off total investments. Analysts linked the market’s downswing to an isolated but heavy sell-pressure hitting large-cap industrial stocks, which eclipsed gains made elsewhere.

Market indicators closely tracked the decline, drive primarily by BUA Cement’s sharp 10% plunge. The Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index – NGX ASI, which tracks the performance of all listed stocks, shed 221.14 basis points to finish at 242,145.61 points. This downturn simultaneously wiped 32 billion Naira off the total market capitalization, dragging the aggregate value of listed equities down to 156.207 trillion Naira. Trading activity also slowed, with total volume dropping by 10.0% to 498.45 million units traded across 39,484 deals.

Despite the broader index dip, underlying investor sentiment actually stayed surprisingly resilient, flashing a “green” market breadth where 26 gainers managed to outpace 21 losers. First HoldCo led the pack of advancing stocks, surging by 9.96% to finish at 87.25 Naira per share, while McNichols and United Bank for Africa – UBA posted strong gains of 8.00% and 7.93% respectively. Other notable gainers keeping buyers interested included Veritas Kapital Assurance and Jaiz Bank.

Conversely, the losers’ chart highlighted the specific pockets of pressure that weighed the market down. Eunisell Interlinked tied with BUA Cement at the bottom, both hitting maximum losses of 10% to close at 189.00 Naira and 275.60 Naira respectively. Chemical and Allied Products – CAP also took a visible hit, dropping 9.61% to settle at 142.45 Naira, while Royal Exchange and Guinea Insurance rounded out the top decliners of the session.

In terms of sheer liquidity and turnover, Japaul Gold & Ventures emerged as the volume leader with over 77.65 million shares switching hands. Financial heavyweights also dominated active trading, with Access Holdings, First HoldCo, UBA, and Fidelity Bank seeing massive volume transactions.

Looking forward, investment experts at Cowry Assets Management Limited anticipate a market rebound driven by strategic portfolio rebalancing, though they warned that ongoing profit-taking in recently rallied stocks might keep the recovery pace modest.