THUR FEB 26 2026-theGBJournal| Nigerian stocks were lower on Thursday, with Lafarge Africa Plc (WAPCO) shares taking a hit amid fresh corporate earnings release.
The NGX benchmark All-Share Index (ASI) was lower by 0.4% to 193,567.81 points, trimming the year-to-date return to 24.39% from 24.91% recorded in the previous session, while market capitalisation shed 0.41% to settle at N124.24 trillion.
The negative performance was primarily driven by notable declines in WAPCO (-8.21%), TRANSCORP (-7.27%), and ZENITHBANK (-2.20%), which more than offset gains in FIRSTHOLDCO (+4.85%), UNILEVER (+5.44%), and CHAMPION (+9.38%)
The total volume traded decreased by 36.0% to 868.54 million units, valued at N31.48 billion, and exchanged in 69,310 deals.
JAIZBANK was the most traded stock by volume at 78.94 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at N4.06 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Industrial Goods (-1.2%), Banking (-0.6%) and Insurance (-0.3%) indices declined, while the Oil & Gas (+0.1%) index advanced. The Consumer Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.7x), as 38 tickers lost relative to 28 gainers.
JAIZBANK (-10.0%) and IKEJAHOTEL (-9.9%) led the losers, while FTNCOCOA (+10.0%) and RTBRISCOE (+10.0%) posted the most significant gains of the day.
Meanwhile, the NASD OTC market closed on a bullish note, extending the gains recorded in the previous session.
The NASD Securities Index (NSI) advanced by 0.23% to settle at 4,034.46 points, while market capitalisation increased by the same margin to close at N2.41 trillion.
Trading activity was mixed during the session. Total volume traded declined sharply by 84.90% to 1.3 million units, suggesting lower participation, whereas the value of trades rose by 27.49% to N102.83 million, indicating relatively higher-priced transactions.
On the performance table, SDNASDPLC (+9.09%) led the gainers’ chart, while SDCSCSPLC (-2.56%) led the decliners chart.
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