WED JULY 15 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s equities market eked out a marginal gain on Tuesday as a rally in banking and heavyweight stocks offset losses in consumer goods and oil-related counters, leaving the benchmark index virtually unchanged despite improved trading activity.
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All-Share Index inched up by just one basis point to close at 241,761.23 points, reflecting a cautious market where investors rotated into select financial and large-cap stocks while taking profits in consumer-facing names.
The modest advance kept the market’s month-to-date return at 5.4% and lifted its year-to-date gain to 55.4%, underscoring the strong performance of Nigerian equities in 2026 despite intermittent bouts of profit-taking.
Market performance was largely underpinned by strong gains in FirstHoldCo, which rallied 10.0%, alongside advances in MTN Nigeria (+1.2%), Transcorp Hotels (+8.4%), and Stanbic IBTC Holdings (+3.8%).
Their gains were sufficient to outweigh declines across parts of the consumer goods and energy sectors.
Trading activity strengthened considerably, signalling sustained investor participation.
Total transaction volume rose 21.3% to 634.78 million shares, while the value of trades climbed to N53.34 billion, executed in 42,494 deals.
FirstHoldCo dominated market activity, accounting for the largest share of both turnover and value traded after investors exchanged 326.92 million shares worth N22.33 billion, reinforcing renewed interest in banking stocks.
Sectoral performance reflected the selective buying pattern.
The Banking Index led sectoral gains, advancing 2.3%, supported by demand for tier-one lenders, while the Insurance Index rose 0.5%.
In contrast, the Consumer Goods Index fell 1.0% amid selling pressure in consumer names, and the Oil & Gas Index edged 0.1% lower.
The Industrial Goods Index finished unchanged.
Market breadth remained marginally positive, indicating that buying interest slightly outpaced selling pressure.
A total of 24 stocks advanced, compared with 21 decliners, resulting in a positive breadth ratio of 1.1x.
Learn Africa and FirstHoldCo emerged as the session’s top gainers, each appreciating 10.0%, while International Energy Insurance (INTENEGINS) shed 9.9% and Legend Internet (LEGENDINT) declined 9.2%, making them the day’s biggest laggards.
Meanwhile, the foreign exchange market was broadly stable, with the official exchange rate holding steady at N1,378.00 per U.S. dollar, suggesting less demand pressure for foreign currency.
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