By Bamidele Famoofo
WorldStage— Leading tier-one banks, AccessCorp, UBA as well as WemaBank and FCMB led stocks whose share prices significantly dropped due to selloffs by investors.
The Banking Index emerged as the worst-performing sector, declining by 0.69 percent as investors locked in gains after
the sector’s strong rally in recent months.
All the four banks successfully met the Central Bank’s deadline for recapitalisation in March 2026.
The Consumer Goods Index followed with a 0.35 percent decline, pressured by losses in International Breweries, Vitafoam, and Nigerian Breweries, reflecting persistent concerns over elevated production costs, inflationary pressures, and subdued consumer demand.
The Oil & Gas Index eased by 0.24 percent, largely driven by profit-taking in OANDO, while the Industrial Goods Index shed 0.20 percent amid declines in TRIPPLE GEE, Austin Laz, and MEYER. The Commodity Index also retreated by 0.87 percent, extending the broadly cautious sentiment across cyclical sectors.
The Insurance Index was the sole outperformer during the week, advancing 1.72 percent as renewed buying interest in CONHALLPLC, LASACO, and NEM
Insurance lifted the sector. The gains reflected selective bargain hunting in undervalued insurance counters following previous market weakness.
Generally, the Nigerian equities market extended its pullback during the week as profit-taking activities outweighed buying interest across major sectors of the market.
The benchmark NGX All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.81 percent week-on-week to close at 245,283.68 points, while total market capitalisation fell by approximately N887 billion to N158.70 trillion. The decline in market value occurred despite the supplementary listing of 15 billion ordinary
shares by Fortis Global Plc, underscoring the broad-based selling pressure that characterised trading during the week.
Consequently, the market’s year-to-date return moderated to 57.62 percent, although it continues to rank among the strongest-performing equity markets globally in 2026.
Investor sentiment remained subdued throughout the week, as reflected in negative market breadth. The market recorded 32 gainers against 54 losers,
translating to a market breadth ratio of 0.59x, an indication that declining stocks significantly outnumbered advancing equities.
Despite the weaker price performance, trading activity strengthened considerably as investors actively repositioned their portfolios. Total transaction volume rose by 15.46 percent week-on-week to 5.12 billion shares, while the number of executed deals increased by 11.59 percent to 285,614 transactions.
Similarly, the value of trades surged by 32.22 percent to N404.99 billion, suggesting that institutional investors remained active despite the market correction. Sectoral performance was largely negative, with four of the five major sectoral indices closing lower.
On the price performance table, CMFC emerged as the week’s best-performing stock with a 22.8 percent gain, followed by CNIF (+20.9%), THOMASWY (+20.7%), CONHALLPLC (+19.6%), and LASACO (+18.7%), highlighting renewed investor appetite for selected small- and mid-cap stocks.
Conversely, ABCTRANS topped the losers’ chart after shedding 18.4 percent, followed by TRIPPLE GEE (-15.5%), VERITASKAP (-15.4%), International Breweries (-
13.9%), and OMATEK (-12.9%), as sustained profit-taking and weak investor sentiment continued to pressure these counters.
Looking ahead, stock market analysts expect market sentiment to remain mixed as investors continue to digest the ongoing corporate earnings releases and assess
management guidance for the second half of the year. While intermittent profit-taking may persist following the market’s strong year-to-date performance, we anticipate bargain hunting in fundamentally sound stocks—particularly within the banking and industrial sectors—to provide support
to the market. Furthermore, relatively stable macroeconomic conditions, moderating inflation, improved foreign exchange stability, and sustained
domestic institutional participation are expected to underpin investor confidence over the medium term, although elevated valuations may continue to encourage periodic portfolio rebalancing.
