The equities market opened the week on a bearish note, as gains in GTCO Plc and Access Holdings Plc, and 14 other stocks were not enough to offset widespread losses across sectors of the equities market, especially the financial services sector, on Monday.

The Nigerian Exchange benchmark All-Share Index, which measures the performance of traded equities, dropped to 143,614.61 points from 143,722.62 points recorded on Friday, reflecting a 0.08% decline. Consequently, market capitalisation fell by N68.69 billion to close at N91.35 trillion.

The downturn extended the market’s recent weak performance, dragging the year-to-date return lower to +39.53% from 39.64% at the end of the previous week as investors wait for a clear direction over uncertainties in Capital Gains Tax and monetary policy rate direction.

The total volume of trades increased by 5.8% to 694.78 million units, valued at N28.67 billion, and exchanged in 24,041.00 deals, driven largely by high-value trades in GTCO and Access Corp.

Despite negative sentiment across the banking sector that left the broader banking index down by 2.3%, GTCO and Access Corp emerged as standout gainers. GTCO led both the volume and value charts, trading 203.85 million shares valued at N17.24 billion across 973 deals to close 0.36% higher at N84.80 per share. Access Holdings advanced 1.46% to end trading at N20.80, with 21.88 million shares exchanged in 1,262 transactions.

Losses in UBA (-2.85%), Sterling Financial Holdings (-6.94%), and Fidelity Bank (-0.26%) weighed heavily on the banking sector, extending the sell-side bias from the prior session. Transcorp Plc also fell 1.10%, contributing further to the index’s decline. Zenith Bank also recorded a slight decline of 0.4%.

Fidelity Bank traded 131.51 million units at N19.05 in 588 deals, reflecting investor profit-taking after recent gains.

Meanwhile, NPF Microfinance Bank topped the losers’ chart among active stocks, falling 7.85% to N2.70. Overall, declining stocks outnumbered gainers, signalling weak investor sentiment, with 26 stocks recording losses relative to 16 gainers.

On the gainers’ table, eTranzact rose by +9.06% to N14.45, followed by INTENEGINS which was up +8.49% to N2.30. McNichols increased by +7% to N2.75, while CILEASING and UPDC rose by +5.47% and +5.26% respectively.

Leading the losers were FG152028S1 which dropped -69.39% to N30.00, followed by NPF Microfinance Bank, Prestige (-7.48% to N1.36), SterlingNG (-6.94% to N6.70), and WAPIC (-6.18% to N2.43).

Sectoral performance was largely negative, with Insurance down 0.8%, Oil & Gas down 0.6%, and Banking down 0.3%. The Industrial Goods and Consumer Goods sectors remained flat.

Outside the financial sector, gains in eTranzact (+9.06%), Unilever Nigeria (+4.35%) and selected growth-focused firms provided some market support. The NGX Growth Index was the only major index to record gains, rising from 13,925.92 to 14,068.77, reflecting investor optimism in high-growth sectors.