The Nigerian equities market sustained sliding trend yesterday as investors fortune declined by N3.6 trillion in three trading days amid losses in bluechip stocks.

The market capitalisation of listed equities which stood at N160.600 at the close of trading on Monday, September 7, 2026 declined by N3,551 trillion to close at N157.049 yesterday.

Also, the All share index, which measures the performance of listed equities depreciated by 5,476.68 or 2.3 from 247,699.78 to 242,223.10.

Reacting on market performance, Vice President of Highcap Securities Limited, David Adonri said the recent selling pressure in the equities market could be linked partly to retail investors raising cash to take part in the much-anticipated Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO.

According to him, some retail investors who have accumulated gains from the strong equities market rally are now taking profits and converting part of their holdings into cash ahead of the offer.

Adonri said the planned Dangote Refinery IPO, which is expected to raise about N2.15 trillion, is attracting significant interest from investors, with some existing shareholders likely to be repositioning their portfolios to free up funds for the offer.

He also argued that the selling pressure should therefore not necessarily be interpreted as a loss of confidence in the equities market, as part of the funds being raised by investors could be redirected into the refinery offer when subscription opens.

A breakdown of yesterday’s transactions showed that yesterday’s downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are Nestlé, NBua cement, Nigerian Breweries, Cadbury, May&Baker, Oando, NEM Insurance, Zichis, GTCO and Wemabank.

On the price movement chart, 11 stocks appreciated in 0rice while 44 others constituted the losers chart.

FTN Cocoa, Japaul, MCNichols, Omatech, NSL Tech, Zichis, and Buacement lost 10 per cent each to close at N7.65 kobo, N2.34 kobo, N4.50 kobo, N1.35 kobo, 63 kobo, N15.39 kobo and N278.10 kobo.

Cadbury followed with 9.94 per cent to close at N58.45 kobo. International.Energy Insurance depreciated by 9.88 per cent to close at N2.28 kobo. Trippleg lost 9.79 per cent to close at N2.58 kobo.Nigerian. Breweries declined by 9.76 kobo to close at N74. UPDC Reit fell by 9.75 per cent to close at N12.50 kobo.

Neimeth dropped 9.66 kobo to close at N6.55 kobo. Mutual Benefits also lost 7.54 kobo to close at N2.82 kobo.

However, Champion Breweries led gainers chart, adding 9.90 kobo to close at N11.10 kobo. VFD Group followed with 9.52 per cenr to close at N11.50 kobo. UPDC garnered N5.88 kobo to close at N3.60 kobo. Ikeja Hotel added 4.58 kobo to close at N44.50 kobo.

Cutix gained 3.06 per cent to close at N2.36 kobo. Sterling Bank also appreciated by 2.67 kobo to close at N7.70 kobo.

Further breakdown of yesterday’s trading indicated that volume of trades also.declined by 201.27 million, representing 27.36 per cent as investors traded 534.45 million shares against 735.72 million reported the previous day.

Value of transactions dipped by 18.8 per cent to settle at N22.28 billion in 46943 deals

Transactions in the shares of Sterling Holding Company led market activities with 78.108 million shares valued at N582.15 million while

Mutual Benefits followed, accounting for 75.538 million shares valued at N216.007 million. AccessCorp traded 25.108 million shares worth N674.222 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 19.27 million shares valued at N2.327 billion while GTCO Plc traded 17.105 million shares worth N2.191 billion.