The Nigerian equities market ended its four-day bullish run on Wednesday as losses in ACCESSCORP, NASCON, UBA and STANBIC pulled the All-Share Index (ASI) down to 246,019.81 basis points.
The decline left the market with a 0.8% month-to-date gain, while the year-to-date return stood at 58.1%.
Trading activity also weakened, with total volume falling 34.5% to 426.84 million units valued at N28.44 billion across 41,475 deals.
ACCESSCORP led trading volume with 33.22 million shares, while ARADEL recorded the highest transaction value at N4.14 billion.
Sector performance was mixed. The Banking and Consumer Goods indices declined 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively, while Insurance gained 2.7%. Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods also advanced by 0.3% and 0.2%.
Despite the decline in the benchmark index, market breadth remained positive, with 33 stocks gaining against 29 losers.
NASCON and BETAGLAS were the worst-performing stocks, each falling 10.0%. TRIPPLEG led the gainers with a 10.0% rise, followed by SOVRENINS, which gained 9.7%.
Naira Gains as Overnight Rate Rises
Elsewhere, the naira strengthened slightly in the official market, with the exchange rate appreciating 0.1% to N1,328.15/$.
In the money market, the overnight lending rate rose 5 basis points to 22.2% amid the absence of significant system liquidity inflows.
The Treasury bill secondary market was unchanged, with the average yield holding at 18.8%. In the OMO segment, however, the average yield declined 11 basis points to 20.6%.
The FGN bond market also closed on a bullish note, with the average yield declining 2 basis points to 16.5%.
Across the benchmark curve, yields fell at the short and mid segments by 3 and 2 basis points, respectively, driven by demand for the February 2031 and June 2033 bonds, whose yields declined 12 and 7 basis points.
The long end of the curve remained unchanged.
