Strong banking and insurance activity drives weekly gains as NGX All-Share Index advances 2.36 per cent
Nigeria’s equities market opened September on a strong footing, with increased buying interest and heavy trading activity pushing the Nigerian Exchange higher and lifting total market value to N159.56tn.
The NGX All-Share Index gained 5,693.97 points, representing a 2.36 per cent increase during the five trading sessions, to close at 246,992.44 points on Friday, compared with 241,298.47 points at the end of the previous week.
Market capitalisation followed the upward trend, expanding by 2.40 per cent during the week.
Trading activity also accelerated sharply. Investors exchanged 4.36 billion shares valued at N210.33bn in 223,284 deals, compared with 2.51 billion shares worth N123.22bn traded in 173,561 transactions in the preceding week.
Friday’s session accounted for a significant portion of the activity, with more than 2.24 billion shares valued at N73.38bn changing hands.
The latest advance further strengthened the market’s performance in 2026. The All-Share Index is now up 58.72 per cent year-to-date, while the NGX 30 Index, which tracks major blue-chip stocks, has risen 60.02 per cent.
Market participants attributed the sustained momentum to strong domestic demand, corporate earnings and continued capital-raising activities across the financial services industry.
A Lagos-based market trader, Joy Bobaseye, said banks and insurance companies had been particularly active in accessing the capital market to meet higher regulatory capital requirements.
According to her, rights issues, private placements and debt-to-equity conversions have increased the equity base of financial institutions while also bringing additional liquidity and investment into the market.
The trend has translated into significant gains for financial-sector stocks. The banking sector has recorded a 73.90 per cent year-to-date return, while insurance stocks on the Premium Board have gained 94.82 per cent.
Financial stocks dominate trading
Financial Services remained the most actively traded sector during the week, reflecting strong investor demand for banking and insurance shares.
The sector recorded 3.58 billion shares valued at N88.64bn across 99,488 deals. Its volume represented 82.10 per cent of total equity market activity, while its value accounted for 42.14 per cent of turnover.
Consumer Goods ranked second, with 188.04 million shares worth N15.34bn traded in 24,518 deals. The Services sector followed with 142.29 million shares valued at N2.02bn across 14,007 transactions.
Trading was concentrated in three companies—Fortis Global Insurance Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc and Access Holdings Plc. Together, the three accounted for 2.29 billion shares valued at N35.23bn in 20,975 deals.
Their combined volume represented more than half of the total equity turnover during the week.
Oil and gas leads sectoral gains
Most sectoral indices ended the week higher, with the NGX Oil/Gas Index recording the strongest weekly performance.
The index jumped 9.10 per cent to 5,657.27 points, taking its year-to-date gain to 111.86 per cent.
The NGX CG Index rose 4.47 per cent, while the NGX Insurance Index gained 3.85 per cent. The NGX Premium Index and NGX Pension Index increased by 3.73 per cent and 3.66 per cent respectively.
Banking stocks also maintained their upward momentum, with the NGX Banking Index advancing 3.58 per cent to 2,636.10 points. The NGX Consumer Goods Index climbed 3.52 per cent.
The NGX Industrial Goods Index was one of the few major laggards, slipping 0.35 per cent to 10,342.50 points. The NGX Sovereign Bond Index also declined marginally by 0.36 per cent.
More stocks record price gains
Market breadth improved considerably during the week, with 56 equities posting gains, compared with 24 in the previous week.
The number of decliners fell to 35 from 55 previously, while 56 stocks closed unchanged.
Royal Exchange Plc emerged as the biggest price gainer, rising 25 per cent from 88 kobo to N1.10 per share.
Champion Breweries Plc followed with a 20.10 per cent increase to N11.95, while Nigerian Breweries Plc gained 18.80 per cent to close at N82.45.
Other notable gainers included Coronation Insurance Plc, McNichols Consolidated Plc, Sunu Assurances Nigeria Plc and Zichis Agro Allied Industries Plc.
Beta Glass Plc recorded the steepest decline, falling 17.38 per cent to N465 per share. NASCON Allied Industries Plc dropped 15.90 per cent to N164, while Red Star Express Plc declined 13.62 per cent after an ex-dividend price adjustment.
R.T. Briscoe Nigeria Plc also lost 13.16 per cent to close at N9.90.
ETP and bond trading increase
Activity in Exchange Traded Products also improved modestly. Investors traded 2.10 million ETP units valued at N425.92m in 5,042 deals, compared with 1.79 million units worth N418.52m in 4,785 transactions the previous week.
Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 generated the highest value of trades at N203.31m across 1,495 deals, while Vetiva Bank ETF recorded the largest volume, with 902,728 units valued at N27.21m.
The debt market also saw stronger activity, with 295,465 bond units worth N293.76m changing hands in 49 deals. This compared with 164,122 units valued at N171.54m traded in 46 deals in the previous week.
TAJ Sukuk 2 accounted for the largest share of bond trading, recording 240,901 units valued at N240.88m across 23 deals.
Capital raising continues to reshape market
The week also saw a number of supplementary listings linked to fresh capital injections and debt conversions.
Coronation Insurance Plc listed more than 4.53 billion additional ordinary shares following a private placement, increasing its issued share capital to 28.53 billion shares.
Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc added about 2.57 billion shares through a private placement, taking its total issued share capital to 68.50 billion.
Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc listed approximately 2.51 billion shares from a rights issue, while Sunu Assurances Nigeria Plc added more than 2.07 billion shares through its own rights issue.
Regency Alliance Insurance Plc also listed about 2.67 billion additional shares following a rights issue.
Meanwhile, Eunisell Interlinked Plc increased its issued share capital through the conversion of N200m in debt into equity, resulting in the listing of more than 68.7 million additional shares.
The combination of strong trading volumes, broad-based price appreciation and continued capital raising points to sustained investor interest in Nigerian equities as the market enters the second week of September.
