NGX records first negative close this week as profit-taking moderates upside potential

Nigeria’s equities market on Wednesday records its first negative close, confirming analysts expectation of mixed trading sessions this week.

After last week’s disappointing outing at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) where over N500billion loss was recorded, most investors took buy decisions early this week as many undervalued counters offered re-entry opportunities.

The market couldn’t sustain the positive as it closed lower by 0.10 percent or N74billion on Wednesday.

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At the close of trading, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and equities market capitalisation moved down from preceding day’s highs of 105,593.28 points and N66.214 trillion respectively to 105,475.38 points and N66.140trillion.

Ahead of Wednesday’s trading session, analysts at Lagos-based Vetiva Research said that given the strong inflows and broad-based gains across banking and insurance counters on Tuesday, they anticipated bullish sentiment to persist, particularly in banking stocks and select consumer goods names.

“However, profit-taking could moderate upside potential, especially in recently rallied counters as investors remain cautious ahead of earnings reports from the big banks,” they added.

Lafarge Africa, Sovereign Trust Insuranc, Cutix, Fidelity Bank and Access Holdings were actively traded stocks as investors in 10,908 deals exchanged 5,760,316,590 shares worth N342.605billion.

UH REIT decreased most on Wednesday, from N56.90 to N51.25, losing N5.65 or 9.93 percent. It was followed by ABC Transport which dropped from N1.53 to N1.38, losing 15 kobo or 9.80 percent, while Champion Breweries made the list of market’s major laggards after its share price moved down from N4 to N3.80, losing 20kobo or 5 percent.

Eterna Plc:

The Board of Directors of Eterna Plc at its meeting held on Monday, March 24 amongst other matters, considered and approved the Audited Financial Statements of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2024.

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The Board also approved that the 2024 Audited Financial Statements should be filed with the regulators and be released to the investing public. The company’s 2024 Audited Financial Statements will be filed with Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on or before March 31, 2025.

Unilever:

The Nigerian Exchange Limited and investing public were notified that the Board of Directors of Unilever Nigeria Plc has appointed Adenike Ogunlesi as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Board with effect from March 24, 2025.