SAT JULY 11 2026-theGBJournal| Nigerian equities recorded their strongest weekly performance in months, with the benchmark NGX All-Share Index surging 6.35% as renewed buying in banking, industrial and energy heavyweights offset late profit-taking, extending the market’s year-to-date return to 56.67%.
The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation rose 6.35% week-on-week to close at 243,798.76 points and N156.44 trillion, respectively, underscoring sustained investor appetite for fundamentally strong stocks despite a marginal pullback in Friday’s trading session.
All major indices closed the week in positive territory, except the NGX Growth and NGX Sovereign Bond indices, which declined 7.43% and 0.02%, respectively.
The week’s rally was driven by strong gains in ARADEL (+19.67% w/w), FIRSTHOLDCO (+25.82% w/w), DANGCEM (+17.51% w/w), NGXGROUP (+17.80% w/w), ACCESSCORP (+10.40% w/w) and AIRTELAFRI (+10.00% w/w), more than offsetting losses in CAP (-9.99% w/w), ETI (-9.98% w/w), GEREGU (-10.00% w/w), GUINNESS (-9.99% w/w) and STANBIC (-6.63% w/w).
Trading remained concentrated in large-cap banking stocks. First Holdco Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc accounted for 1.745 billion shares valued at N121.83 billion across 31,053 deals, representing 47.85% of total traded volume and 55.23% of total market value.
Overall, investors exchanged 3.648 billion shares worth N220.57 billion in 251,861 deals during the week, compared with 3.821 billion shares valued at N154.39 billion in 258,567 deals in the previous week. While traded volume eased slightly, the sharp increase in turnover value reflected stronger participation in higher-priced equities.
Despite the robust weekly advance, the market ended Friday on a softer note as the benchmark index slipped 0.07% to 243,798.76 points, with market capitalisation closing unchanged at N156.44 trillion.
The decline was driven by profit-taking in GUINNESS (-9.99%), IKEJAHOTEL (-9.96%), ZICHIS (-9.94%), TRIPPLEG (-9.85%) and DAARCOMM (-8.84%), outweighing gains in INTBREW (+9.92%), NEM (+9.61%), JAIZBANK (+6.36%), UPDC (+6.33%) and LIVESTOCK (+6.32%).
Market activity slowed markedly on Friday, with traded volume plunging 73.36% to 441.27 million shares and transaction value falling 82.67% to N19.40 billion.
ACCESSCORP (-0.20%) led the volume chart with 40.17 million shares traded, while GTCO (-0.71%) recorded the highest value of transactions at N1.89 billion.
Market breadth remained positive at 1.11x, as 30 stocks advanced against 27 decliners. INTBREW emerged as the session’s top gainer, while GUINNESS led the losers.
In the over-the-counter market, the NASD Securities Index gained 2.31% to close at 4,296.34 points, lifting market capitalisation to N2.58 trillion and improving the year-to-date return to 21.24%.
Trading activity on the NASD platform, however, weakened sharply, with volume falling 94.67% and transaction value declining 57.16% to 1.28 million shares worth N29.20 million across 32 deals. SDCSCSPLC led the gainers with an 8.87% rise, while SDAFRILAND was the worst performer, shedding 9.76%.
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