NGX Slumps as Nestlé, BUA Foods Tumble; Banking Stocks Limit Losses
Nigeria's main stock index snapped a two-day rally after steep losses in Nestlé and BUA Foods erased N800.7 billion in value, though surging trading volumes and banking gains suggest the pullback was stock-specific rather than broad-based.
The Nigerian Exchange Group’s All-Share Index fell 0.50% to close at 245,418.37 points on Wednesday, ending a two-session run that had pushed the benchmark to a record high. Market capitalisation dropped to N158.32 trillion, wiping out N800.70 billion in investor value.
The decline was driven almost entirely by maximum 10% daily drops in two of the market’s largest consumer goods companies. Nestlé Nigeria fell to N2,812.50 and BUA Foods dropped to N845.10. UAC Nigeria added to the sector's pressure with a 7.75% decline to N184.45, while Mecure Industries and International Energy Insurance also featured among the session’s heaviest losers.
Despite the headline drop, underlying market breadth remained positive. The NGX Growth Index actually recorded the steepest decline of any tracked index, tumbling 7.99% to 33,872.11 points. The NGX Consumer Goods Index fell 5.04%, but this masked a sharp divergence within the sector as rivals Cadbury Nigeria and Unilever Nigeria both hit their 10% upward daily limits, closing at N62.70 and N137.50 respectively. NASCON Allied Industries added 8.89% and PZ Cussons Nigeria rose 6.19%.
Financial stocks provided critical support, preventing a steeper index fall and highlighting the concentrated nature of the selloff. The NGX Banking Index rose 1.51%, lifted by a 4.76% gain in First HoldCo to N110.00, alongside advances in Zenith Bank, Access Holdings, and GTCO. The insurance index climbed 1.64%, the industrial index added 0.81%, and telecom giant MTN Nigeria rose 1.92% to N850.
The market dynamics pointed to active repositioning rather than broad capitulation. Total trading volume jumped 34.34% to 1.25 billion shares and market turnover spiked 139.80% to N118.18 billion. However, the total number of individual deals actually declined by 5.20% to 47,458, indicating that larger block trades in the heavyweight names drove the session's activity.
For investors, the session underscores how heavily the Nigerian bourse relies on a small cluster of consumer goods heavyweights. The concentrated losses, combined with the spike in turnover, point to targeted profit-taking rather than a systemic shift in sentiment. The broader market remains firmly in bull territory, with the All-Share Index still up 57.71% and market capitalisation up 59.31% year-to-date.
