The Nigerian Exchange recorded another down session on September 24, as the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 213.5 points to close at 140,716.1. This represents a 0.15% decline from the previous day’s 140,929.6, stretching the market’s losing streak to a fourth consecutive session.
Turnover slowed, with 442.55 million shares changing hands, significantly below the 759.05 million units traded a day earlier. The weaker sentiment also dragged market capitalization lower to N89.06 trillion from N89.19 trillion, with investors executing 21,684 transactions.
DANGOTE SUGAR emerged as the day’s top performer after notching a 10% increase, while MECURE followed with a 9.95% gain. Other notable advancers included CORNEST and NSLTECH, which both rose 8%, and UPDCREIT, which gained 5%. On the other hand, DEAPCAP and LEGEND INTERNET topped the losers’ chart, falling 9.42% and 9.26% respectively. WAPIC, RTBRISCOE, and MAYBAKER also posted significant declines.
Activity was led by the banking sector, with ZENITH BANK trading 68.9 million shares, followed by ACCESSCORP at 47.3 million and FIRSTHOLDCO at 46.1 million. FIDELITY BANK and GTCO completed the list of the most active counters with 42.3 million and 22.8 million shares. By value, ZENITH BANK dominated with N4.7 billion worth of trades, ahead of MTNN at N2.1 billion, GTCO at N2.07 billion, FIRSTHOLDCO at N1.4 billion, and ACCESSCORP at N1.1 billion.
Stocks worth over one trillion naira (SWOOTs) posted mixed results. INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES advanced 1.91% while LAFARGE rose 1.75%. Among the tier-one banks, trading was largely positive as UBA gained 1.74%, ZENITH BANK advanced 1.33%, GTCO rose 1.11%, FIRSTHOLDCO added 0.98%, and ACCESSCORP improved by 0.40%.
Despite the mild support from banking stocks, the broader market still finished in the red, weighed down by weak participation. Analysts note that if activity strengthens in large-cap stocks, the index could attempt a rebound toward the 141,000 mark.