Stock Market Extends Losses as Investors Shed N958.5bn in One Day
Nigeria’s equities market remained under intense selling pressure on Thursday, with investors losing N958.5 billion in market value as bearish trading extended for another session.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 1,493.71 points to close at 233,580.83, down from 235,074.54 recorded in the previous trading session. Consequently, market capitalisation declined to N149.89 trillion.
The latest decline comes after investors lost more than N3 trillion in the previous trading day, reflecting continued weak market sentiment.
Market analysts attributed the downturn to heavy sell-offs in large and mid-cap stocks across the oil and gas, commodity, insurance, and banking sectors, which outweighed gains recorded by a few low-priced equities.
The sharp decline in the share price of Aradel Holdings, which dropped by the maximum daily limit of 10 per cent to close at N1,575 per share, significantly impacted the market, dragging down the NGX Oil and Gas Index.
The Oil and Gas Index recorded the biggest sectoral loss, declining by 5.22 per cent, while the Commodity Index fell by 3.36 per cent. The Insurance Index also shed 2.59 per cent as sustained profit-taking continued in the sector.
The Banking Index posted a modest decline of 0.28 per cent, weighed down by losses in Wema Bank and other tier-two banking stocks.
Other blue-chip companies, including NGX Group and Transcorp, also closed lower, highlighting the broad-based nature of the market correction.
Trading activity weakened further as the volume of shares traded declined by 19.35 per cent to 393.65 million shares. The value of transactions also dropped by 8.19 per cent to N19.21 billion, while the number of deals fell slightly to 45,813.
Access Holdings emerged as the most traded stock by volume with 39.05 million shares.
With Thursday’s losses, the Nigerian stock market has now fallen more than 18,900 points below its all-time high of 252,508 points recorded in May 2026, signalling that the ongoing correction phase remains firmly in place.
