The Nigerian equities market closed the week ended Friday, August 7, 2026, in positive territory, supported by strong investor demand for banking and other high-cap stocks.
The benchmark All-Share Index rose 0.12 per cent to close at 245,573.60 points, while market capitalisation increased to N158.513 trillion.
The modest gain extended the market’s year-to-date return to 57.81 per cent, despite continued profit-taking across several sectors.
The market maintained a slight upward momentum during the week as gains in key banking and large-cap stocks helped offset broader sell-offs.
Trading activity was mixed throughout the week. On Monday, investors traded more than 922 million shares valued at N37.85 billion in 72,474 deals.
By Friday, activity increased to 1.518 billion shares valued at N26.65 billion across 42,517 deals.
Despite the positive movement in the benchmark index, overall market breadth remained negative, with 63 equities recording losses compared with 26 gainers, while 58 stocks closed unchanged.
Investors traded a total of 5.359 billion shares worth N139.053 billion in 261,869 deals during the week.
The volume represented an increase from the previous week’s 5.119 billion shares, while turnover value fell sharply from N404.762 billion.
The decline in turnover value was attributed to a high base effect from major institutional block trades recorded in the previous week.
The Financial Services industry dominated trading activity by volume, accounting for 3.469 billion shares valued at N73.013 billion in 117,509 deals.
The sector contributed 64.73 per cent of total equity volume and 52.51 per cent of total value traded during the week.
The Oil and Gas sector followed with 1.023 billion shares worth N18.900 billion traded in 17,680 deals.
The ICT industry ranked third, recording 232.368 million shares valued at N14.624 billion.
Trading in Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc, Fortis Global Insurance Plc and FCMB Group Plc accounted for 2.562 billion shares worth N14.173 billion across 6,645 deals.
Sectoral performance remained mixed as investors shifted positions across industries.
The Banking Index gained 2.33 per cent, while the Corporate Governance Index rose 1.97 per cent and the Premium Index advanced 1.60 per cent.
However, profit-taking weighed on several other segments.
The Insurance Index fell 3.31 per cent, the Growth Index declined 2.14 per cent, while the Consumer Goods Index lost 1.75 per cent.
AVA Capital Plc emerged as the week’s biggest gainer, rising 33.33 per cent to close at N11.00.
FCMB Group Plc followed with a 13.10 per cent gain to N12.95, while First HoldCo Plc advanced 12.23 per cent to close at N145.40.
Thomas Wyatt Nigeria Plc led the decliners, falling 26.71 per cent to N3.21.
Trans-Nationwide Express Plc dropped 23.76 per cent to N2.15, while Critical Minerals Financing Corp Plc declined 22.68 per cent to N3.00.
Activity in the Exchange Traded Products segment also declined during the week.
A total of 3.561 million units valued at N513.089 million were traded in 5,558 deals, compared with 4.607 million units worth N549.378 million traded in the previous week.
VETBANK recorded the highest volume in the ETP segment, with 2.142 million units traded, while STANBICETF30 recorded the highest value at N167.401 million.
In the fixed income market, investors traded 117,372 bond units valued at N121.249 million across 29 deals.
The FGSUK2032S7 bond led activity with 51,500 units traded at a value of N62.380 million.
Corporate actions during the week also resulted in price adjustments for selected equities.
Unilever Nigeria Plc was adjusted to N145.95 following an N2.00 dividend ex-dividend date, while VFD Group Plc was adjusted to N11.36 following an N0.24 dividend ex-dividend date.
The market’s marginal weekly gain reflects continued investor interest in financial and large-cap stocks, although the negative market breadth and renewed profit-taking suggest that investors remain selective amid ongoing portfolio rebalancing.
