SAT JULY 18 2026-theGBJournal| Stocks feel on fell, with the NGX All-Share Index posting a weekly decline, as traders weighed the latest inflation figures along with the upcoming interest call by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) interest rate call.
The benchmark index-the All-Share Index lost 0.14% w/w to settle at 243,462.13 points and market capitalisation increased by 0.39% w/w to N157.06 trillion, bringing the market’s year-to-date return to 56.45% from 56.67% in the previous week.
All other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX Main Board, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil & Gas, NGX Lotus II, NGX Industrial Goods, NGX Growth and NGX Sovereign Bond indices which depreciated by 1.54%, 0.15%, 0.11%, 0.40%, 6.26%, 0.09%, and 0.33% respectively while NGX Commodity Index closed flat.
The sentiment was driven by losses in BUACEMENT (-18.99% w/w), OANDO (-2.26% w/w), CADBURY (-8.95% w/w) and REDSTAREX (-18.53% w/w), which outweighed gains recorded in MTNN (+2.04%w/w), GTCO (+ 2.54% w/w), ZENITHBANK (+2.89%), FIRSTHOLDCO (+38.66% w/w).
Trading in the top three equities, namely First Holdco Plc, FCMB Group Plc and Access Holdings Plc (measured by volume), accounted for 939.402 million shares worth N57.673 billion in 19,051 deals, contributing 33.33% and 31.60% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
In Friday’s session, the ASI and market capitalisation rose by 0.54%, driven by gains in stocks such as FIRSTHOLDCO (+9.97%), LIVINGTRUST (+9.73%) and LASACO (+5.26%), which outweighed losses recorded in REDSTRATEX (-9.50%), OMATEX (-6.08%) and CILEASING (-5.93%).
Trading activity was positive, as total traded volume and value increased significantly by 37.60% to 685.87 million units and 22.40% to N43.68 billion, led by FIDSON (0.00%) with 225.91 million units and N20.97 billion worth of shares exchanged.
Market breadth was positive at 1.35x, indicating that the market had more gainers than decliners. A total of thirty-one stocks closed in positive territory, led by FIRSTHOLDCO (+9.97%), while twenty-three stocks declined, with REDSTRATEX (-9.50%) leading the decliners’ chart.
Meanwhile, the NASD OTC market closed on a positive note, as the NASD Security Index (NSI) advanced by 0.04% to close at 4,320.67 points. Consequently, market capitalisation increased by 0.04% to N2.59 trillion, while the market’s year-to-date return improved to 21.92%.
Trading activity weakened, as total traded volume declined by 34.48% to 777.00 million units, while the value of transactions decreased by 38.97% to N63.53 million. A total of 33 trades were executed during the session.
Market performance was supported by gains in SDCSCSPLC (+2.63%), which emerged as the only gainer, while SDFCWAMCO (-4.12%) was the only decliner in today’s session.
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