WED JULY 29 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s stock market recovered on Tuesday as investors shifted away from heavyweight counters following Monday’s broad-based sell-off, rotating into mid- and small-cap stocks that offered stronger short-term upside.
The benchmark NGX All-Share Index gained 0.30 per cent to close at 247,984.55 points, lifting market capitalisation by N477 billion to N159.99 trillion and pushing the market’s year-to-date return to 59.36 per cent.
The rebound, however, masked a more cautious tone beneath the surface.
Investors largely avoided the market’s biggest capitalisation stocks, opting instead for selective buying in second-tier names after profit-taking in blue-chip counters weighed on sentiment at the start of the week.
“This is as a result of portfolio managers locking in gains from large-cap holdings and redeploy capital into stocks perceived to offer better near-term value,” analyst explain.
Top gainers included CMFC, which rose 9.86 per cent, TRANSEXPR, up 9.93 per cent, and GUINEAINS, which added 9.52 per cent. Their gains more than offset declines in MANSARD, which fell 5.30 per cent, ABCTRANS, down 9.93 per cent, and JAIZBANK, which lost 5.00 per cent.
Trading activity presented a mixed picture. Total volume traded rose 6.11 per cent to 676.92m shares, suggesting sustained investo participation, but the value of transactions fell 36.32 per cent to N36.43bn.
The decline in turnover indicates that investors traded fewer high-value blue-chip stocks compared with previous sessions, reinforcing evidence of a shift away from heavyweight names.
ACCESSCORP accounted for the largest traded volume with 87.54 million shares, while HBMNG topped the value chart with N6.83 billionn worth of deals.
Market breadth remained healthy, with 36 gainers against 23 losers, producing an advance-to-decline ratio of 1.57, led by LASACO’s 10.00 per cent gain, while MEYER posted the session’s steepest decline of 9.97 per cent.
The rotation in equities coincided with renewed pressure on the foreign exchange market.
The naira weakened for a second consecutive session, slipping four basis points to N1,364.44 per US dollar from N1,363.92.
“The modest depreciation points less to a deterioration in fundamentals than to routine fluctuations in foreign exchange demand and supply,” says Clem Ofuani, a Financial and tax expert in Abuja.
“Dealers typically attribute such short-term movements to increased demand from importers and corporates, intermittent foreign portfolio investor repatriation, and varying levels of dollar supply from exporters and the Central Bank.
After several weeks of relative stability, the currency has entered a narrow trading range in which daily movements reflect temporary liquidity conditions rather than a fundamental shift in market direction,” he adds.
However, market participants will be watching whether foreign portfolio inflows, which have supported the currency in recent weeks, remain sufficient to offset corporate and importer demand for dollars.
Meanwhile, the NASD Over-the-Counter market underperformed, with the NASD Security Index falling 1.60 per cent to 4,273.15 points, reducing market capitalisation to N2.56 trillion.
Despite the decline, trading activity strengthened sharply as volume surged more than eleven-fold to 6.65m units, while transaction value climbed 337.32 per cent to N87.76m across 51 deals.
SDAFRILAND led gainers with a 4.47 per cent advance, while SDFCWAMCO recorded the day’s steepest loss, shedding 10.96 per cent.
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