The Nigerian equities market sustained a strong bullish run for the week ending Friday, 24 July 2026, as heavy institutional buying across core sectors pushed the overall market valuation above the historical N159tn threshold, JIDE AJIA reports
The Nigerian equities market closed the week ending Friday bullish, driving total market capitalisation past the N159tn mark as investor appetite surged across key trading segments.
Driven by aggressive buying in tier-one banking stocks, the market capitalisation of listed equities expanded by N2.53tn, a 1.61 per cent weekly gain, to close at N159.588tn, up from N157.058tn in the previous week.
Concurrently, the benchmark NGX All-Share Index advanced 1.60 per cent to settle at 247,357.40 points.
Market liquidity soars
Trading activity reflected a notable liquidity injection across the bourse, with total market turnover climbing substantially compared to previous levels.
Equity investors traded a total of 4.433bn shares valued at N306.143bn across 255,589 deals, representing a sharp rise from the 2.819bn shares worth N182.499bn traded in 226,729 deals the preceding week.
The positive momentum extended into exchange-traded products, where 2.559m units were traded for N447.340m across 5,338 deals, while the fixed-income bond segment logged 189,675 units valued at N185.844m executed in 64 deals.
Banks led trading
The Financial Services sector anchored overall market turnover, generating 3.422bn shares worth N207.206bn across 117,545 deals. This performance allowed the sector to capture 77.18 per cent of total equity trading volume and 67.68 per cent of total value for the week.
Sectoral activity was heavily concentrated in three major banking assets, including First Holdco Plc, Access Holdings Plc, and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, which collectively generated 2.151bn shares worth N170.793bn in 44,768 deals, accounting for nearly half of total market volume.
Sectoral indices largely reflected the broader market rally, led by an 8.35 per cent jump in the NGX Banking Index and a 4.00 per cent gain in the NGX Premium Index. However, not all sectors shared in the upside, as the NGX Consumer Goods Index shed 3.76 per cent and the NGX Growth Index declined sharply by 20.24 per cent.
Price movements
Market breadth favoured the bulls throughout the trading period, as 57 equities appreciated compared to 44 gainers recorded in the previous week.
Thirty-eight equities recorded price declines, while 31 remained unchanged. UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust led the gainers’ chart after surging 33.33 per cent to close at N14.20, closely followed by First Holdco Plc, which rose 25.59 per cent to finish at N120.50.
Strong buying interest was also seen in industrial and consumer counters like Unilever Nigeria, Cadbury Nigeria, AXA Mansard Insurance, and BUA Cement.
Conversely, profit-taking dragged down select equities across different capitalisations. MeCure Industries Plc led the week’s declines after dropping 26.97 per cent to close at N62.40.
Heavyweight stocks also felt the pressure of selective sell-offs, with BUA Foods Plc, Presco Plc, and Nestle Nigeria Plc each shedding 10.00 per cent of their share values over the five days.
Corporate actions
Regulatory enforcement and corporate restructuring actions remained prominent on the Exchange. Pursuant to default filing regulations, the Exchange suspended trading in the shares of Aluminium Extrusion Plc on Wednesday, 22 July 2026, after the company failed to submit its audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025, within the stipulated grace period.
On the corporate expansion front, Linkage Assurance Plc announced successful completion of the supplementary listing of 12.32bn ordinary shares at N1.32 per share following its recent rights issue, raising its total issued share capital to 30.80bn shares.
In addition, ex-dividend price adjustments were effected across several equities following cash reward declarations, including Africa Prudential Plc, Transcorp Power Plc, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, Transcorp Hotels Plc, and Transnational Corporation Plc.
The bullish momentum on the NGX reflects broader economic trends, including stabilising foreign exchange liquidity, sustained disinflation, and heightened institutional participation ahead of H1 corporate earnings releases. Analysts anticipate that market sentiment will remain cautiously optimistic in the coming week as more tier-one companies release their audited Q2/H1 earnings results. However, periodic profit-taking may occur in high-cap banking counters following recent steep gains.
Institutional investors aggressively repositioned ahead of the second-quarter and half-year financial disclosures, anticipating strong interest income from tier-1 banks amid prevailing yield conditions. Improved dollar liquidity and stable foreign exchange dynamics on the official market continue to restore foreign portfolio investor confidence, reinforcing domestic pension fund managers’ buy-side dominance.
