The Nigerian equities market closed the week ended Friday, 7 August 2026, in positive territory, bolstered by strong investor demand for financial and high-cap equities. JIDE AJIA reports.
The Nigerian equities market maintained a slight upward momentum for the week ended Friday, as gains in key banking and large-cap stocks offset broader market sell-offs.
The benchmark All-Share Index appreciated 0.12 per cent to close at 245,573.60 points, lifting the market capitalisation to N158.513tn and extending the year-to-date return to 57.81 per cent.
Against the backdrop of persistent macroeconomic adjustments and shifting investor portfolio realignments, the market managed to sustain positive momentum despite persistent profit-taking pressure across secondary sectors.
Total market activity reflected mixed sentiment across trading days, opening Monday with over 922m shares valued at N37.85bn in 72,474 deals, fluctuating throughout the week, and concluding Friday with 1.518bn shares worth N26.65bn traded in 42,517 deals.
Overall market breadth leaned negative, with 63 equities declining against 26 gainers and 58 remaining unchanged.
Finance drives trading
Investors traded a total turnover of 5.359bn shares worth N139.053bn across 261,869 deals during the week, marking an increase in volume but a notable drop in total value compared with the previous week’s 5.119bn shares worth N404.762bn.
The contraction in turnover value follows a high base effect from major institutional block trades executed in the preceding week.
The Financial Services industry led trading activity by volume, accounting for 3.469bn shares valued at N73.013bn in 117,509 deals, thereby contributing 64.73 per cent to total equity volume and 52.51 per cent to total value.
The Oil and Gas sector followed, generating 1.023bn shares worth N18.900bn in 17,680 deals, while the ICT industry placed third with 232.368m shares valued at N14.624bn.
Combined trading in the top three individual equities, including Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc, Fortis Global Insurance Plc and FCMB Group Plc, accounted for 2.562bn shares worth N14.173bn across 6,645 deals.
Top gainers, decliners
Sectoral performance across the exchange was varied, with buying interest lifting the Banking Index 2.33 per cent, the Corporate Governance Index by 1.97 per cent and the Premium Index by 1.60 per cent.
Conversely, profit-taking led to declines in several sub-indices, including Insurance, which dropped 3.31 per cent, Growth, which fell 2.14 per cent, and Consumer Goods, which lost 1.75 per cent.
Among individual equities, AVA Capital Plc topped the gainers’ chart with a 33.33 per cent rise to close at N11.00, followed by FCMB Group Plc, which gained 13.10 per cent to close at N12.95, and First HoldCo Plc, which advanced 12.23 per cent to N145.40.
On the losing side, Thomas Wyatt Nigeria Plc led decliners with a 26.71 per cent drop to close at N3.21, while Trans-Nationwide Express Plc shed 23.76 per cent to end at N2.15, and Critical Minerals Financing Corp Plc declined 22.68 per cent to N3.00.
Activity in the Exchange Traded Products segment recorded 3.561m units valued at N513.089m traded in 5,558 deals, down from the 4.607m units valued at N549.378m traded the previous week.
VETBANK recorded the highest volume within the ETP space with 2.142m units traded, while STANBICETF30 led in value with N167.401m. In the fixed income market, a total of 117,372 bond units valued at N121.249m were transacted across 29 deals, led by the FGSUK2032S7 bond with 51,500 units traded worth N62.380m.
Furthermore, corporate actions during the week included price adjustments for Unilever Nigeria Plc, which was adjusted to N145.95 following an N2.00 dividend ex-div date, and VFD Group Plc, which was adjusted to N11.36 following an N0.24 dividend ex-div date.
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