12th March, 2025
By Taiye Olayemi
The Nigerian stock market suffered another blow on Wednesday, shedding a staggering N48 billion in market capitalisation as widespread sell-offs rattled investors.
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its losing streak, with the market capitalisation plunging to N66.436 trillion from N66.484 trillion recorded on Tuesday. The All-Share Index (ASI) also dropped 77.53 points, closing at 106,090.38 compared to 106,167.91 in the previous session.
The latest downturn was largely driven by steep losses in key stocks, including Conoil and United Bank for Africa (UBA), as investors scrambled to offload shares. Market breadth remained bleak, with 32 stocks closing in the red, while only 19 stocks managed to post gains.
Conoil led the losers’ chart with a crushing 10% drop, closing at N331.20. Berger Paints followed closely with a 9.81% decline, settling at N18.85 per share. International Energy Insurance slumped 9.79% to N1.75, while Multiverse Mining tumbled 9.66% to N7.95 per share. Regency Assurance also took a hit, losing 8.70% to close at 63k per share.
Amid the market carnage, a few stocks managed to defy the downturn. Tantaliser recorded an impressive 9.79% surge, closing at N3.14 per share, while Secure Electronic Technology soared 9.68% to 64k per share. Caverton Offshore Support Group rose 9.09% to N3.00, while FTN Cocoa Processors climbed 6.51% to N1.80 per share. Jaiz Bank also saw a 6.04% increase, closing at N3.51 per share.
Despite the overall bearish sentiment, trading activity surged with an extraordinary 1.499 billion shares valued at N10.259 billion exchanged across 11,748 transactions. This marked a significant increase from the 324.59 million shares worth N7.918 billion traded on Tuesday.
Sovereign Trust Insurance dominated the session, accounting for 989.73 million shares worth N987.48 million. Jaiz Bank followed with 187.35 million shares valued at N628.09 million, while Secure Electronic Technology saw 43.51 million shares traded for N28.62 million. Zenith Bank recorded 22.81 million shares worth N1.085 billion, and United Capital Group posted 18.28 million shares valued at N346.42 million.
