The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) declined by approximately N5.64 trillion last week as sustained selloffs across major sectors dampened investors’ sentiment and negatively impacted market performance.

The lacklustre performance of the market is sending panic into the investment market.

The all-share index (ASI) depreciated by 3.59 per cent week-on-week to close at 235,941.27 points, while market capitalisation dropped to N151.33 trillion.

As a result, the market’s year-to-date return moderated to 51.62 per cent.

Market breadth remained firmly in negative territory, reflecting widespread losses across listed equities.

At the close of trading, 16 stocks recorded gains, while 78 stocks declined, resulting in a market breadth ratio of 0.21 times. This underscored the weak trading environment as investors continued to reduce exposure to several counters amid persistent profit-taking.

Trading activity was mixed during the week. Although total volume traded declined by 38.04 per cent compared to the previous week, both transaction value and the number of deals increased. The number of deals rose by 21.7 per cent, while transaction value advanced by 22.73 per cent.

A total of 3.08 billion shares worth N254.79 billion were exchanged in 287,541 deals, indicating selective participation by investors and cautious portfolio repositioning in response to prevailing market conditions.

Performance across the major sectoral indices was largely negative, highlighting weak sentiment across the market. The banking index recorded the sharpest decline, falling by 10.49 per cent. The Insurance index followed with a loss of 7.22 per cent, while the Industrial Goods Index shed 4.11 per cent.

Similarly, the Commodity Index declined by 2.2 per cent, the consumer goods index lost 1.61 per cent, while the oil and gas index fell by 1.06 per cent during the review period.

On the gainers’ table, Royalex emerged as the best-performing stock, rising by 13.3 per cent. Enamelwa, Learn Africa and Neimeth each gained 10 per cent, while ABC Transport appreciated by 9.9 per cent.

The gains were largely attributed to renewed buying interest in selected mid- and small-cap stocks.

Conversely, Intenegins led the losers’ chart with a decline of 40.4 per cent. Abbeybds fell by 18.2 per cent, Triple G lost 17.6 per cent, Deapcap dropped 16.8 per cent, while May & Baker shed 14.9 per cent as investors intensified profit-taking activities.

Analysts expect the Nigerian equities market to remain under pressure in the near term as investors continue to take profits following the market’s strong rally earlier in the year.

Chief Research Officer of InvestData Consulting Limited, Ambrose Omordion, said that the NGX all-share index remained in a short-term corrective phase after recently reaching record highs, as profit-taking activities continue to dominate trading across major sectors of the market.