|By Babatunji Wusu
The Nigerian stock market deepened its losing streak on Thursday as sell-offs in Jaiz Bank, Ikeja Hotel, Cadbury, and 35 other equities erased N515 billion from investors’ portfolios.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange Limited showed that market capitalisation declined from N124.753 trillion at the opening bell to N124.238 trillion at close, reflecting sustained bearish pressure across key counters.
The benchmark All-Share Index (ASI) dropped by 802.39 points, representing a 0.41 percent fall to settle at 193,567.81, down from 194,370.20 recorded on Wednesday. Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return moderated to 24.39 percent as market breadth closed negative with 38 decliners against 30 gainers.
On the losers’ chart, Jaiz Bank spearheaded the rout, plunging 9.98 percent to close at N12.63 per share. Ikeja Hotel and John Holt trailed closely, each shedding 9.90 percent to finish at N37.75 and N8.65, respectively. Nigerian Enamelware slipped 9.88 percent to N36.50, while Cadbury declined by 9.69 percent to settle at N61.95 per share.
In contrast, FTN Cocoa Processors topped the gainers’ table with a 10 percent appreciation to close at N6.05. RT Briscoe followed with a 9.95 percent increase to N11.38 per share, while Deap Capital Management, Japaul Gold Ventures, and Omatek Ventures also recorded notable gains.
Trading activity weakened significantly, underscoring cautious investor sentiment. Total volume, value, and number of deals fell by 36.01 percent, 30.58 percent, and one percent, respectively.
Investors traded 868.5 million shares valued at N31.5 billion across 69,310 deals on Thursday, a sharp drop from the 1.4 billion shares worth N46.2 billion exchanged in 70,222 transactions on Wednesday.
Jaiz Bank emerged as the most actively traded stock by volume, accounting for 78.94 million shares or 9.09 percent of the day’s total turnover. Meanwhile, Zenith Bank led in value terms with N4.06 billion worth of shares traded, representing 12.89 percent of total market value for the session.
The latest decline compounds earlier losses this week, following a massive N1.141 trillion drop on Tuesday and an additional N74 billion decline on Wednesday, signaling sustained volatility in the Nigerian equities market.
