The Nigerian equities market opened the week higher as gains in selected banking stocks lifted the benchmark index. However, the NASD over-the-counter market moved in the opposite direction, recording a sharp decline.
The NGX All-Share Index rose by 0.21% to close at 252,635.11 points on Monday, September 28, 2026. Market capitalisation also increased by 0.21% to ₦164 trillion. The index’s closing level and daily movement are corroborated by Capital Bancorp’s market report.
The advance pushed the NGX’s year-to-date return to 62.35%, compared with 62.01% in the previous session. This represented an improvement of 0.34 percentage points.
Trading figures nevertheless showed a mixed session. More shares changed hands, but the total value of transactions fell, with Fidelity Bank accounting for a substantial share of activity.
Banking stocks support the NGX advance
Fidelity Bank gained 6.48%, while First HoldCo and Access Holdings rose by 2.11% and 1.11%, respectively. According to the market summary, gains in these stocks helped offset losses elsewhere.
Wema Bank declined by 2.11%, showing that the positive movement did not extend across all the banking names highlighted in the report.
Outside those gainers, CHAMS fell by 2.59%, while NGX Group lost 0.81%. The combination of advances and declines left the broader market higher, although individual stocks delivered different results.
The session’s performance therefore reflected selective buying rather than uniform gains. Investors holding declining stocks would not necessarily have experienced the improvement recorded by the benchmark index.
Fidelity Bank accounts for over half of traded volume
Total trading volume increased by 43.12% to 1.01 billion shares. However, transaction value declined by 33.13% to ₦39.02 billion.
Fidelity Bank led both measures of activity. Investors traded 528 million of its shares, with transactions valued at ₦10.63 billion.
Based on the rounded market totals, the stock accounted for approximately 52.3% of all shares traded. It also contributed about 27.2% of the session’s transaction value.
That concentration made Fidelity Bank a major feature of the day’s trading. Its share of volume was considerably larger than its share of value.
The wider figures also show why volume and value need separate attention. A rise in the number of shares traded does not necessarily mean that the amount spent on transactions has increased.
In this session, turnover rose in share terms while falling in naira terms. The supplied figures do not establish whether any particular large transaction drove Fidelity Bank’s activity.
Gainers outnumber losers by six stocks
Market breadth remained positive, with 39 stocks advancing against 33 decliners. This produced a gainers-to-losers ratio of approximately 1.18.
The figures show that advancing stocks held a modest numerical advantage. However, they also indicate that losses remained widespread among the stocks that changed price.
UPL recorded the strongest percentage gain, rising by 9.89%. At the other end of the table, TRANSEXPR declined by 8.47%, making it the session’s largest percentage loser.
These price rankings measure a different aspect of performance from trading activity. Fidelity Bank led volume and value, while UPL topped the percentage gainers’ chart.
Similarly, positive market breadth does not mean that every sector or portfolio advanced. It describes the balance between the number of rising and falling stocks.
NASD index drops 7.27%
The NASD over-the-counter market ended the session lower. Its Security Index fell by 7.27% to close at 4,090.59 points.
Market capitalisation declined by 7.17% to ₦2.46 trillion, while the market’s year-to-date return moderated to 15.43%.
That compared with a year-to-date return of 24.48% in the previous session, representing a decline of 9.05 percentage points.
Despite the daily setback, the reported year-to-date return remained positive. The session therefore reduced the market’s accumulated gains without erasing them.
SDCSCSPLC was the leading advancer, gaining 10%. Meanwhile, SDMRS fell by 10% to lead the decliners.
The available summary does not provide enough information to attribute the entire index decline to a single security.
NASD records more deals but lower turnover
NASD trading volume fell by 80.25% to 1.94 million shares. Transaction value also weakened, declining by 83.45% to ₦193.80 million.
However, the number of completed trades increased. The market recorded 20 deals, up by 42.86% from the previous session.
More transactions therefore took place even though the total quantity and value traded were substantially lower. This points to a smaller average transaction size across the session.
The two markets finished with contrasting price performances. The NGX recorded a modest advance supported by selected banking stocks, while NASD suffered a steep decline.
Both markets, however, recorded lower transaction values. Subsequent sessions will show whether buying on the NGX broadens beyond its busiest stocks and whether NASD stabilises after the sell-off.
