The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) rebounded by 81 basis points this past week ended August 28, staging a sharp recovery from a two-week downtrend triggered by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s removal of OMO bill restrictions.
The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) edged up 0.81% week-on-week to close at 241,298.47 points, while total market capitalization expanded by N1.29 trillion to settle at N155.83 trillion.
This capital appreciation pushed the NGX year-to-date return to 55.06%, driven largely by renewed buying interest in selected large- and mid-cap stocks across the Banking and Oil & Gas sectors.
Investor sentiment was further buoyed by FTSE Russell’s confirmation that Nigeria will be reclassified from “Unclassified” to “Frontier Market” status effective at the market open on September 21, 2026, marking the country’s formal return to the global index.
Despite the positive headline performance, market analysts at Cowry Asset Limited noted that underlying market participation remained subdued, indicating an increasingly selective rally.
Market breadth reinforced this cautious outlook, with 55 stocks closing lower against only 24 gainers, resulting in a weak breadth ratio of 0.44x.
Stockbrokers observed that the divergence between a rising benchmark index and negative market breadth demonstrates that gains were heavily concentrated in a handful of heavyweight counters rather than broadly distributed.
Overall trading activity softened considerably throughout the week. Total volume, transaction value, and deal count fell week-on-week by 59.84%, 21.84%, and 6.92%, respectively, as 2.51 billion shares worth N123.37 billion were exchanged across 173,848 deals.
Sectoral performance remained broadly constructive. The Oil & Gas sector led the advance with a 4.54% gain, driven by strong buying interest in SEPLAT, while the Consumer Goods sector rose 2.93% on renewed demand for GUINNESS.
The Banking sector also climbed 2.85% as investors accumulated selected tier-one lenders, including FIRSTHOLDCO, ACCESSCORP, and UBA.
Conversely, the Insurance sector shed 1.27% due to losses in INTENEGINS, VERITASKAP, and SUNUASSUR, while Industrial Goods slipped 0.15% amid profit-taking in AUSTINLAZ and CUTIX.
At the individual stock level, University Press Plc (UPL) topped the gainers’ chart with an 18.8% surge, followed by FIRSTHOLDCO (+11.6%), SEPLAT (+10.0%), REDSTAREX (+9.9%), and TRANSCOHOT (+9.8%).
On the losing end, INTENEGINS plunged 26.6% to lead the decliners, followed by FIDSON (-17.7%), CAVERTON (-15.2%), ZICHIS (-14.7%), and AUSTINLAZ (-12.0%).