The Nigerian equities market recorded its first weekly loss of the year last week as market capitalisation declined by N394 billion following profit-taking embarked upon by investors on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX)

The downturn marked a pause in the rally that had characterised trading in recent weeks, as sentiment turned cautious amid subdued activity.

At the close of trading last week, the NGX all-share index (ASI) settled at 165,512.18 points, representing a week-on-week decline of 0.37 per cent.

The negative performance reflected waning confidence among investors and translated into an equivalent N394 billion drop in total market capitalisation, which declined to N105.96 trillion from N106.35 trillion in the preceding week, while the year-to-date return eased to 6.36.per cent.

Despite the overall bearish performance, market breadth remained moderately positive, with advancing stocks outnumbering decliners by a ratio of 1.43 to one.

A total of 57 stocks closed in positive territory against 40 losers, suggesting pockets of selective bargain hunting by investors.

By the end of the week, investors had traded 3.75 billion shares valued at N99.9 billion across 237,302 deals, highlighting cautious positioning and persistent selloffs.

Sectoral performance largely reflected the broader market weakness, as sustained selling pressure and profit-taking dominated trading activities. Most sectors closed the week in negative territory, except the Oil and Gas and Commodity indices, which emerged as the only gainers. These sectors advanced by 1.36 per cent and 0.79 per cent respectively, driven mainly by price appreciation in Aradel, although gains were partly eroded by sharp losses recorded in Eterna.

The consumer goods sector suffered a notable decline of 1.48 per cent, as intensified sell-offs were recorded in key stocks such as Nigerian Breweries and International Breweries. Similarly, the banking sector ended the week down by 1.32 per cent, weighed down by broad-based weakness across both tier-one and mid-tier banking stocks, including First HoldCo and Fidelity Bank, as investors reduced exposure following recent price rallies.

In the Insurance sector, performance was marginally negative, with the index slipping by 0.1 per cent. Profit-taking in stocks such as Wapic and Guinea Insurance outweighed gains recorded in a few select counters.

Meanwhile, the industrial goods sector posted the mildest decline of 0.08 per cent, reflecting modest selling pressure in stocks such as Cutix and WAPCO, despite a strong showing by Trippleg.

At the stock level, several equities delivered strong gains during the week. Deap Capital topped the gainers’ chart with a 60.1 per cent appreciation, followed by SCOA, which gained 59.7 per cent, NCR with 46.4 per cent, DAARCOMM with 41.7 per cent and RT Briscoe with 40.7 per cent, largely on the back of increased accumulation interest. Conversely, Eterna led the losers with a decline of 11.9 per cent, followed by NSLTECH, which fell by 10.2 per cent, IMG and ALEX, both down by 9.9 per cent and UPDC, which shed 8.1 per cent, reflecting sustained selling pressure in these stocks.

Looking ahead, the Nigerian equities market is expected to remain range-bound in the near term as cautious investor sentiment persists amid ongoing profit-taking and soft trading activity.

While the recent pullback has moderated gains recorded earlier in the year, the market’s year-to-date return of 6.36 per cent suggests that downside risks may be relatively contained, particularly for fundamentally strong and dividend-paying stocks.