MON MAY 25 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s equities market began the trading week on a strong footing, extending its recent rally as sustained investor appetite for fundamentally strong stocks pushed the benchmark index to another record level.
The bullish sentiment comes amid continued macroeconomic headwinds, including the depreciation of the naira at the official foreign exchange market, highlighting investors’ growing preference for equities as a hedge against inflation and currency risks while positioning for stronger corporate earnings and dividend prospects.
The All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 0.6 per cent to close at 251,131.51 points, reflecting renewed buying interest across key sectors of the market.
The latest gain further strengthened the market’s impressive performance in 2026, pushing the Month-to-Date return to 3.7 per cent and Year-to-Date return to 61.4 per cent.
Market performance was largely driven by strong gains in blue-chip and mid-tier stocks, with AIRTELAFRI surging by the maximum daily limit of 10.0 per cent.
Other notable gainers included OANDO, which rose 4.6 per cent amid continued investor interest in the energy company’s growth prospects, FCMB Group, which gained 3.5 per cent, and JAIZ Bank, which appreciated by 2.5 per cent.
Despite the positive close, trading activity was relatively subdued compared with the previous session.
Total volume traded declined by 30.2 per cent to 497.09 million shares, while the value of transactions settled at N31.62 billion across 74,129 deals.
ACCESSCORP emerged as the most actively traded stock by volume, accounting for 61.29 million shares exchanged during the session, reinforcing the sustained investor interest in banking stocks.
Meanwhile, ARADEL dominated value trades with transactions worth N11.99 billion, highlighting continued institutional participation in the stock.
Sectoral performance reflected a mixed trading pattern. The Insurance Index led gainers with a 0.5 per cent increase, supported by bargain hunting in selected counters, while the Banking Index added 0.1 per cent on the back of renewed demand for tier-one and mid-tier lenders.
Conversely, the Oil and Gas Index declined by 1.8 per cent, largely due to profit-taking in some energy stocks following recent gains, while the Consumer Goods Index shed 0.3 per cent amid cautious positioning by investors. The Industrial Goods Index closed unchanged.
Market breadth remained positive, indicating that buying interest was broadly spread across the market.
Thirty-five stocks recorded gains against thirty decliners, translating to a positive breadth ratio of 1.2 times.
AIRTELAFRI and INTENEGINS topped the gainers’ chart with increases of 10.0 per cent and 9.7 per cent respectively, while MCNICHOLS and TIP led the losers after shedding 10.0 per cent and 9.9 per cent.
Analysts note that the continued advance in equities reflects investors’ search for real returns in an environment where inflation remains elevated and the naira continues to face pressure.
Supporting this view, the official foreign exchange rate weakened by 0.7 per cent to N1,376.90 per dollar, reinforcing the attractiveness of stocks with strong earnings potential and foreign currency exposure.
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