NGX ASI crosses 60% YTD as bulls tighten grip

Nigeria’s equities market opened the week on a firmer footing on Monday as renewed buying interest pushed the benchmark NGX All-Share Index above the 250,000-point mark, lifting its year-to-date gain to 60.76 per cent.

The All-Share Index rose 0.14 percent to close at 250,156.80 points, while market capitalisation increased by N228.25 billion to ₦162.39 trillion.

The advance came amid broadly positive investor sentiment, with market breadth standing at 1.6x as 39 stocks appreciated against 25 decliners.

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NASCON, Omatek, Sunu Assurances, Thomas Wyatt and Critical Minerals Financing Corporation led the gainers, while Okomu Oil, Custodian Investment, Sovereign Trust Insurance, Haldane McCall and Ellah Lakes recorded the most notable declines.

The performance further extended the market’s strong 2026 rally, with the NGX benchmark now delivering a 60.76 percent return since the beginning of the year.

Sector performance was mixed, however, indicating that the gains were not broad-based across all segments of the market.

Banking stocks led the positive sectors, rising 0.68 percent, followed by Industrial Goods with a 0.47 percent gain. Insurance advanced 0.33 percent, while Consumer Goods rose 0.32 percent.

The gains were partly offset by declines in the Commodity and Oil & Gas sectors, which fell 0.97 percent and 0.40 percent, respectively.

Trading activity also presented a mixed picture. While the number of shares traded and transactions increased significantly, the value of transactions fell sharply.

A total of 574.19 million shares changed hands in 68,655 deals, representing increases of 9.16 percent in volume and 55.01 percent in deal count compared with the previous session.

However, turnover plunged 60.72 percent to ₦38.06 billion, highlighting a significant decline in the value of funds committed to equities despite the stronger trading activity.

The divergence between rising transaction volumes and falling turnover suggests that Monday’s activity was concentrated more heavily in lower-priced stocks and smaller-value transactions.

Market sentiment nevertheless remained constructive, supported by the positive breadth and continued gains across banking, industrial, insurance and consumer stocks.

Analysts expect the bullish undertone to persist as investor sentiment continues to improve, although profit-taking by investors sitting on substantial year-to-date gains could limit the pace of further advances.

With the index now above 250,000 points and the year-to-date return exceeding 60 percent, the market enters the final stretch of September with investors balancing continued momentum against the prospect of increased profit-taking.