Nigeria: NGX Asi Retreats After 9-Day Bulls

By Peter Moses

Lagos — The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) retreated as investors booked profit in MTN Nigeria, Aradel Holdings and Nigerian Breweries, among others.

The Nigerian Exchange reversed its gains on Thursday, ending a 9-day winning streak into the New Year, with the All-Share Index declining 0.43% to 166,057.29 points.

Market capitalisation dropped by N457.58 billion to N106.32 trillion due to sell pressure in bellwether stock amidst an inflation spike. Nigeria's inflation reversed its 8-month trend, with the consumer price index racing to 15.15% from 14.45% in November.

Market breadth was negative at 0.9x, with 36 gainers overshadowed by 41 losers. NESTLE, NCR, JAIZBANK, MORISON, and MECURE led the advancers, while MCNICHOLS, CAVERTON, IKEJAHOTEL, FTNCOCOA, and NEIMETH suffered the steepest declines.

The market retreated due to profit-taking in MTNN (-4.13%), ARADEL (-5.11%), and NB (-2.33%). Overall, NESTLE (+10.00%) emerged as the best performer today, while MCNICHOLS (-9.99%) led the laggards.

Trading activity displayed divergent trends as share volume surged 35.80% to 1.02 billion units and transaction value rose 5.83% to ₦31.59 billion, whereas deal count fell 8.11% to 51,227 transactions.

Notably, SOVERNINS topped the volume chart with 245.2 million units trading on the board, while ZENITHBANK led the value log with trades worth N5.0 billion.

In today's rendition, sectoral performance was mixed. The Banking (+0.78%), Consumer Goods (+0.33%), and Industrial Goods (+0.01%) indices edged higher, driven by buying interest in FIRSTHOLDCO (+4.00%), NESTLE (+10.00%), and BETAGLAS (+0.60%), respectively.

However, following selloffs in ARADEL (-5.11%), the Oil & Gas (-2.21%) and Commodity (-1.14%) indices fell sharply. In a similar fashion, the Insurance (-0.24%) index closed lower, driven by sell pressures in AIICO (-3.04%).

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