TUE AUG 25 2026-theGBJournal| Nigerian equities extended their retreat on Monday, putting the benchmark market into a third consecutive week of declines, as selling pressure on banks and selected blue-chip stocks outweighed gains in a handful of large-cap names.
The NGX All-Share Index fell 0.11% to 239,085.17 points, while total market capitalisation slipped 0.09% to ₦154.40 trillion.
The decline reduced the market’s year-to-date gain to 53.64%, from 53.81% at the end of last week.
The latest weakness comes after the NGX lost 1.35% last week, suggesting that investors are becoming more selective following a powerful rally earlier in the year.
The market is also entering a period in which investors are looking for fresh corporate earnings catalysts, with some banks and other blue-chip companies yet to release their latest financial results.
The wait for financial statements is adding to uncertainty around earnings expectations and valuations.
Banks account for a significant share of the NGX’s market capitalisation and trading activity, meaning delays in results from major lenders can leave investors with fewer fresh signals on asset quality, net interest income, loan growth, capital positions and dividend prospects.
The pressure was most visible in Fidelity Bank, First HoldCo and UBA, which fell 6.00%, 1.58% and 1.44%, respectively.
Their declines more than offset gains in AccessCorp, GTCO and DangSugar, which rose 1.85%, 0.55% and 0.15%.
The pattern points to a market increasingly driven by stock-specific positioning rather than broad-based buying.
Investors appear to be locking in gains in some highly valued counters while waiting for earnings to provide a clearer justification for current share prices.
Trading volumes nevertheless increased sharply.
Market turnover rose 60.49% to 668.72 million shares, although the value of transactions fell 33.13% to ₦23.83 billion, indicating that the increase in activity was not accompanied by a comparable increase in investment flows.
UBA was the most actively traded stock by volume, with 89.63 million shares, while First HoldCo dominated value turnover with transactions worth ₦7.90 billion.
Market breadth remained firmly negative at 0.58x, with 33 stocks falling against 19 gainers.
Intenegins was the worst performer, declining 9.82%, while RedStar Express gained 9.86% to lead the advancers.
NASD market bucks the trend
The over-the-counter market moved in the opposite direction.
The NASD Securities Index rose 0.65% to 4,289.55 points, while market capitalisation increased by the same margin to ₦2.56 trillion.
The market’s year-to-date return improved to 21.05%, from 20.26% previously.
Trading volume surged 472.98% to 1.87 million units, although transaction value dropped 77.58% to ₦10.93 million.
The market recorded 54 trades, up 58.82% from the previous session.
SDUBNPROP gained 9.09% to lead the gainers, while SDIGIPLC fell 7.84%, making it the weakest of the three declining stocks.
In the foreign-exchange market, the official naira rate weakened marginally by 3 basis points to ₦1,348 per dollar, signalling little immediate currency pressure but offering no major new catalyst for equities.
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