MTN Nigeria, Learn Africa, Unilever lead rout as investors lose N2.35 trillion on Monday
- +FUGAZ banks add further weight to broad selloff
Nigeria’s equities market suffered another heavy blow on Monday with the benchmark NGX All-Share Index plunging 1.57% to close at 228,401.92 points after MTN, Unilever, and Learn Africa hit the maximum -10% daily downside limit simultaneously.
Nigeria’s equities market suffered another heavy blow on Monday with the benchmark NGX All-Share Index plunging 1.57% to close at 228,401.92 points after MTN, Unilever, and Learn Africa hit the maximum -10% daily downside limit simultaneously.
Investors lost approximately N2.35 trillion in a single session as the Market Capitalisation closed at N146.56 trillion, down from N148.91 trillion last Friday, June 26.
Consequently, the year-to-date return slid further to 46.78%, its lowest level since June, 2026.
The session extended the market’s brutal correction phase. The NGX benchmark has now shed more than 24,000 points from its May all-time high of 252,508 points. Cumulative losses from peak now exceed N13 trillion.
Selling dominated proceedings from the opening bell. Forty-seven stocks declined against just 13 gainers. Highlights of Monday’s trading:
The selling was broad and indiscriminate. Only a handful of counters escaped the brokers’ long knives. MTN Nigeria’s 10% maximum daily decline was the session’s most consequential single-stock move.
The stock shed N83.00 to close at N747.00. MTN is one of the NGX’s most capitalisation-heavy names. Its decline alone inflicted significant damage on the benchmark index.
Unilever Nigeria also hit the 10% daily floor. It closed at N126.00, shedding N14.00 per share. Learn Africa fell to N9.00, losing N1.00 — also a maximum daily decline.
FUGAZ banks add further weight to broad selloff
Apart from the above counters, other consequential decliners that further exacerbated market rout were:
Trading activity surged sharply despite the bearish close. Volume soared 171.61% to 1.06 billion shares.
Deal count rose 40.15% to 62,552 transactions. This spike suggests institutional repositioning rather than orderly exit.
It traded 305.54 million shares worth N13.21 billion in a single-stock block trade of exceptional scale.
Together Ikeja Hotel and Access Holdings accounted for the bulk of the day’s elevated turnover.
On the gainers’ side, UPDC bounced +9.23% to N3.55 — partially recovering from its recent 52-week low. Sovereign Trust Insurance rose +4.08% to N2.04.
Monday’s 1.57% decline is the second largest single-day loss after June 24 when the market recorded N3.64 trillion losses, deepening the series of lingering market correction that began after the ASI touched 252,508 points in May 2026.
However, the surge in trading volume — up 171.61% — is notable suggesting that institutional investors are actively repositioning rather than simply watching from the sidelines.
Ikeja Hotel’s 305.54 million shares traded in a single session is an unusually large volume for the counter. It points to significant block activity that warrants close monitoring in subsequent sessions.
MTN Nigeria’s 10% decline is particularly significant. The stock is one of the NGX’s largest by market capitalisation. Its correction has now brought it to N747.00 from levels above N830.00 in recent sessions.
