Investors in insurance and industrial stocks bore the brunt of the ongoing sell pressure that has erased N2.72 trillion from equities’ value this week.
After three consecutive days of negative closes, the NGX Insurance Index dropped by 10.50 percent, followed by the NGX Industrial Index with a decline of 8.34 percent, while the NGX Banking Index shed 4.71 percent.
A further 0.87 percent dip on Thursday deepened the week-to-date loss to 2.97 percent, trimming the year-to-date return to +36.34 percent.
At the close of trading, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index slipped from 141,566.30 points on Wednesday to 140,332.44 points, while market capitalisation fell from N89.564 trillion to N88.783 trillion.
The downward trend was fuelled largely by BUA Cement Plc, which dropped from N168.60 to N151.80, a loss of N16.80 or 9.96 percent.
Fidelity Bank, Veritas Kapital, Universal Insurance, Access Holdings, and Jaiz Bank were among the most actively traded stocks. A total of 573,749,611 shares worth N12.876 billion exchanged hands in 25,881 deals.
Analysts at Vetiva Research, in their August 20 market note, observed: “With the corrective phase likely to extend, we remain defensive until there is a clear easing of supply pressures in key sectors and flagship stocks.”