Market News

By Jide Ajia

As the Nigerian financial markets continue to navigate shifts in investor sentiment and macroeconomic adjustments, stakeholders closely monitor weekly trading flows, institutional participation, and corporate disclosures, JIDE AJIA reports.

 The Nigerian Exchange experienced a downturn during the trading week ended on Friday, October 9, 2026, as broader market indicators pulled back. Investors traded a total of 2.715 billion shares worth N158.280bn in 209,986 deals, reflecting a shift in market momentum compared to the previous week.

Market participants navigated a dynamic trading landscape characterised by sector-specific movements, high-profile corporate listings, and capital reconstructions.

Sector and market activity

Trading activity was heavily anchored by the Financial Services Industry, which led the activity chart by volume with 2.005 billion shares valued at N82.924bn traded across 94,483 deals. This sector alone accounted for 73.84 per cent of total equity turnover volume and 52.39 per cent of its total value.

The Consumer Goods Industry followed in second place with a turnover of 152.345 million shares worth N11.425bn in 20,926 deals, while the ICT Industry captured third place with 117.296 million shares worth N15.256bn in 22,556 deals. Individual market heavyweights Access Holdings Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, and United Bank for Africa Plc drove a significant portion of this volume, combining for 1.020 billion shares worth N50.520bn in 29,382 deals.

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Index movements, price variations

The benchmark NGX All-Share Index and market capitalisation both depreciated by 0.97 per cent to close the week at 248,363.55 and N161.260tn respectively. Most sector indices followed a similar downward trajectory, with the notable exception of the NGX Industrial Goods Index, which managed a slight appreciation of 0.02 per cent.

Market breadth closed negative as twenty-four equities appreciated in price, down from forty-four in the previous week, while fifty-four equities depreciated, and sixty-eight remained unchanged. Livestock Feeds Plc led top gainers with a 47.75 per cent increase, moving from 8.90 to 13.15 naira, whereas Critical Minerals Financing Corp Plc led decliners after sliding 20.27 per cent from 4.49 to 3.58 naira.

Corporate actions restructured

Corporate milestones shaped a busy week for regulatory listings and structural adjustments on the Exchange. The Federal Government of Nigeria officially listed its September 2026 FGN Savings Bonds on October 7, 2026, featuring two-year and three-year instruments with coupons of 14.12 per cent and 15.12 per cent, respectively.

Additionally, Guinea Insurance Plc expanded its equity structure by listing over 6.30 billion ordinary shares arising from a private placement at 1.45 naira per share, pushing its total paid-up capital to 17.45 billion shares.

In major structural updates, the suspension on Multi-Trex Integrated Foods Plc was lifted following the submission of overdue financial statements, while Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc successfully executed its share capital reconstruction by delisting its old shares and listing 6,850,233,171 newly reconstructed ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at 77.00 naira per share.

Foreign investment trends

Foreign investors accounted for just 4.89 per cent of equity transactions on the Nigerian Exchange in August 2026, marking the lowest monthly participation share recorded during the year as foreign trading contracted to N62.03bn. According to the NGX Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment Report for August 2026, total monthly equity transactions fell 46.38 per cent to 1.27 trillion naira from N2.37tn in July.

Despite this monthly contraction, turnover remained 39.75 per cent higher than the N908.4bn recorded in August 2025. Foreign equity transactions dropped 53.23 per cent to N62.03bn from N132.62bn, outpacing a 45.98 per cent decline in domestic trading. Domestic investors dominated market activity with approximately N1.21tn in transactions, nearly 19 times the value handled by foreign participants.

For the first eight months of 2026, domestic investors drove 89.77 per cent of total equity turnover, growing their trading value by 117.64 per cent to N11.89tn compared to N5.46tn during the same period in 2025. The August slowdown was primarily driven by domestic institutional investors, whose transactions fell 60.39 per cent to N654.61bn from N1.65tn, accounting for roughly 90.9 per cent of the total monthly market turnover reduction.

Conversely, retail trading showed resilience by dipping just 5.08 per cent to N552.88bn, which elevated the retail share of domestic transactions to 45.79 per cent.

Overall, domestic investors closed August with purchases of N615.83bn against sales of N591.66bn, yielding a net buy position of N24.17bn.