…Domestic transactions fell 46% month-on-month
SAT OCT 03 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s stock market ended the week lower, with the NGX All-Share Index falling 0.52% to 250,808.27 points as losses in major banking and telecom stocks outweighed gains elsewhere.
Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of NGX Main Board, NGX Insurance, NGX Oil & Gas and NGX Growth indices which appreciated by 0.08%, 0.61%, 0.05% and 1.85% respectively, while the NGX Commodity index closed flat.
Market capitalisation dropped 1.10% to N162.84 trillion, while the benchmark’s year-to-date return eased to 61.17% from 62.01% a week earlier, as investors trimmed positions in Access Holdings(−3.33% w/w), GTCO (−3.07% w/w) and MTN Nigeria (−2.67% w/w).
Thier performance outweighed gains recorded in FIDELITYBK (+8.80% w/w), WEMABANK (+1.95% w/w) and UBA (+0.22% w/w).
Sectoral performance was mixed this week, with three of the five indices closing lower.
Trading in the top three equities, namely Fidelity Bank Plc, VFD Group Plc and Access Holdings Plc (measured by volume), accounted for 1.343 billion shares worth N27.580 billion in 15,771 deals, contributing 42.42% and 17.79% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Banking index led the decliners (−1.33% w/w), followed by Consumer Goods (−0.91% w/w) and Industrial (−0.26% w/w), while Insurance (+0.61% w/w) and Oil & Gas (+0.05% w/w) closed higher.
In Friday’s session, the NGX ASI and market capitalisation declined by 0.16%.
This negative sentiment was driven by losses in NGXGROUP (−6.85%) and FIRSTHOLDCO (−6.16%), and FCMB (-3.06%) which outweighed gains in GTCO (+0.61%), ZENITHBANK (+0.37%), and MTNN (+0.36%).
Market activity was weak, as total volume traded declined by 46.92% to 549.57 million units and value traded fell by 49.67% to N27.00 billion, while the number of deals rose by 19.78% to 53,264.
ACCESSCORP (+0.33%) led the volume chart with 183.56mn units traded, while MTNN (+0.36%) topped the value chart with transactions worth N3.35 billion.
Market breadth was positive at 1.00x, reflecting equal number of advancers relative to decliners. TRANSEXPR (+10.00%) emerged led the thirty-one gainers, while PZ (−9.91%) led the thirty-one losers.
Meanwhile, Trading activity on Nigeria’s stock market fell to its lowest level in six months in August, with total transactions plunging 46.4% from the previous month as both domestic and foreign investors sharply reduced their exposure to equities.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) showed that total transactions fell to N1.27 trillion in August from N2.37 trillion in July, marking the lowest monthly turnover since February 2026.
The decline was broad-based, with domestic and foreign investors both recording substantial falls in activity. Domestic investors accounted for 95.1% of total transactions, while foreign investors represented just 4.9%.
Domestic transactions fell 46% month-on-month to N1.21 trillion, their lowest level in six months, driven primarily by a 60.4% decline in institutional activity. Retail transactions also weakened, falling 5.1% over the period.
Foreign investor transactions dropped even more sharply, declining 53.2% to N62.03 billion from N132.62 billion in July. That marked the lowest level of foreign participation since April 2025.
Despite the sharp decline in trading volumes, the market still recorded a net inflow of N15.08 billion in August, although this was 39.6% below the N24.95 billion recorded in July.
The net inflow was supported by domestic investors, which recorded N24.17 billion in net inflows. This more than offset N9.09 billion in net foreign outflows, highlighting the growing divergence between local and international investor positioning.
The NASD OTC market closed today’s session on a positive note, as the NASD Security Index (NSI) increased by 1.24% to 4,461.92 points. Market capitalisation also increased by 0.75% to N2.67 trillion, while the market’s year-to-date (YTD) return improved to 25.91% from 24.37% in the previous session.
Market activity weakened as total volume traded declined by 48.33% to 1.27m units, while total value traded declined by 96.96% to N9.46 millio.
PURPLEREALPLC emerged as the top advancer, gaining 11.11%, while AFRILAND was the top decliner, shedding 10.00%.
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