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The Nigerian stock market experienced a slight downturn yesterday as mid-session profit-taking in BUA Cement Plc pulled down overall investor investments.

Reflecting this sell-pressure, the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index – NGX ASI shed 221.14 basis points, translating to a 0.09% decline to close at 242,145.61 points. Consequently, the total market capitalisation dipped by 32 billion Naira, settling at 156.207 trillion Naira by the close of the trading session.

Despite the marginal drop in the main index, broader investor sentiment actually remained positive as 26 gainers managed to outpace 21 losers. First HoldCo led the gainers’ chart with a robust 9.96% increase to close at 87.25 Naira per share, closely followed by McNichols with an 8.00% gain to settle at 5.40 Naira. Banking heavyweights also showed resilience, with United Bank for Africa (UBA) rising 7.93% to 44.25 Naira, alongside steady gains from Veritas Kapital Assurance and Jaiz Bank.

Conversely, the losers’ chart was dominated by intense selling pressure in heavy-cap industrial equities. Eunisell Interlinked led the decliners, plunging 10% to close at 189.00 Naira per share, while BUA Cement followed sharply behind with a 9.99% drop to finish at 275.60 Naira. Other notable decliners included Chemical and Allied Products – CAP, which fell by 9.61% to 142.45 Naira, alongside Royal Exchange and Guinea Insurance, which shed 9.55% and 5.38% respectively.

Market activity metrics slowed down during the session, with the total volume of traded shares declining by 10.0% to 498.45 million units. These trades, valued at 34.87 billion Naira, were executed across 39,484.00 distinct deals. Japaul Gold & Ventures topped the activity charts by volume with 77.658 million shares traded, while Access Holdings, First HoldCo, UBA, and Fidelity Bank also recorded high transaction volumes, highlighting sustained liquidity in the banking sector.

Investment analysts attributed the daily deficit to a heavy concentration of sell-pressure within industrial stocks, noting that buying interest in select banks was simply insufficient to shield the wider market. Looking forward, market experts from Cowry Assets Management Limited anticipate a near-term rebound driven by strategic portfolio rebalancing.

However, they cautioned that ongoing profit-taking in stocks that recently appreciated could continue to temper the speed of any market recovery.