TUE SEPT 01 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s equities market ended August with a strong rally, led by gains in banking, telecommunications and oil stocks, although the benchmark remained slightly lower for the month following a prolonged sell-off.
Omatek Ventures emerged as the standout stock performer at the close of the month, rising 10.0% in the final session to N1.65, while Ikeja Hotel and Sovereign Trust Insurance gained 9.95% and 9.94%, respectively.
Meanwhile, the market kicked off the week on a bullish note, buoyed by gains in MTNN (+4.3%), ZENITHBANK (+5.3%), GTCO (+3.1%), ARADEL (+3.1%) and ETI (+9.0%), which drove the All-Share Index higher by 1.2% to 244,199.50 points.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -0.4% and +56.9%, respectively, while market capitalisation gained 1.23% to close at N157.74 trillion.
The August decline reflected the impact of earlier profit-taking, with market capitalisation falling from N158.326 trillion at the end of July to N157.739 trillion at the end of August.
The total volume traded expanded by 0.2% to 606.19 million units, valued at N38.70 billion, and exchanged in 53,471 deals.
ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume at 126.54 million units, while MTNN was the most traded stock by value at N5.72 billion.
Analysing by sector, the Banking (+3.1%), Consumer Goods (+1.7%), Oil & Gas (+1.4%) and Insurance (+0.9%) indices advanced, while the Industrial Goods (-0.7%) index declined.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (2.9x), as 43 tickers gained relative to 15 losers.
OMATEK (+10.0%) and IKEJAHOTEL (+10.0%) posted the most significant gains of the day, while ABBEYBANK (-9.4%) and AVACAP (-7.7%) led the laggards.
The late-month recovery followed an extended period of weakness in Nigerian equities. The NGX had climbed to a monthly high of 248,556.30 points on August 10 before entering a prolonged sell-off as investors took profits in several previously strong-performing stocks.
Similarly, the NASD OTC market opened this week’s session on a positive note, as the NASD Security Index (NSI) advanced by 1.67% to 4,306.78 points.
Market capitalisation also rose by 1.67% to N2.58 trillion, while the market’s year-to-date (YTD) return improved to 21.53%, from 19.53% in the previous session.
Trading activity strengthened significantly, with traded volume increasing by 4.12% to 1.17 million units, while transaction value surged by 185.52% to N51.98 million.
A total of 29 trades were executed, representing a 29.27% decrease from the previous session.
On the performance chart, SDFCWAMCO (+6.18%) led the gainers, while SDGEFLUID (-0.54%) emerged as the session’s top decliner.
At the currency market, the official FX rate appreciated by 0.4% to N1,332.83/USD.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s external reserves increased by 0.37% to $53.50 billion as of 28 August 2026, reflecting the continued strengthening of the country’s reserve position, supported by sustained foreign-exchange inflows.
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