Trading activity on the Nigerian Exchange surged dramatically on Thursday, with the volume of shares changing hands increasing 161.79 per cent to approximately 1.40 billion units, even as investors remained divided over the direction of individual stocks.
The value of transactions also climbed 21.83 per cent to N27.14 billion, demonstrating a sharp increase in market activity compared with the preceding session.
The number of transactions, however, declined 1.54 per cent to 46,218 deals, indicating that the surge in volume came through larger concentrations of shares rather than an equivalent increase in the number of trades.
The heightened activity coincided with one of the session’s most striking developments: dramatically opposing movements in two major Nigerian energy companies.
Seplat Energy surged 10 per cent, while Aradel Holdings fell 10 per cent.
Seplat Hits Daily Limit
Seplat emerged as the day’s strongest-performing stock after advancing the maximum 10 per cent to N14,907.80 per share.
The company opened at N13,552.60 before adding N1,355.20 during the session.
Approximately 182,894 Seplat shares worth N2.72 billion changed hands.
Thursday’s rally extended an already exceptional year for the energy stock.
At N14,907.80, Seplat had gained 156.63 per cent since the beginning of 2026, placing it among the NGX’s strongest-performing major companies.
The move helped lift the Oil and Gas Index by 0.79 per cent for the session and pushed its year-to-date return to a remarkable 117.49 per cent.
But another major energy counter moved sharply in the opposite direction.
Aradel Drops 10%
Aradel Holdings fell 10 per cent to N1,413, from an opening price of N1,570.
Despite the decline, Aradel generated the highest transaction value of any stock during the session, with approximately 3.78 million shares worth N5.34 billion changing hands.
The fall was significant but needs to be viewed against the stock’s longer-term performance.
Even after Thursday’s maximum daily decline, Aradel remained 110.90 per cent higher year-to-date, according to the report.
The contrasting performances of Seplat and Aradel illustrate how dramatically investor sentiment can diverge even among companies exposed to the same broad sector.
Financial Stocks Dominate Volume
Away from the energy sector, financial services remained the most actively traded segment of the market.
The sector accounted for approximately 294.65 million shares, substantially ahead of Oil and Gas at 22.23 million units and Services at 19.34 million units.
At individual stock level, Mutual Benefits Assurance led the volume chart with 59.55 million shares, followed by Access Holdings with 28.57 million shares and GTCO with 25.74 million shares.
By transaction value, Aradel’s N5.34 billion turnover placed it first, followed by GTCO at about N3.33 billion, Seplat at N2.72 billion and Zenith Bank at N1.78 billion.
The figures show that Thursday’s session was not simply about the benchmark index’s marginal 0.06 per cent rise.
The much bigger story was the sharp return of trading activity.
Naira Strengthens Slightly
The increased equity-market activity coincided with a marginal appreciation in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market.
The naira appreciated by 0.08 per cent to close at N1,328.22 per US dollar on NAFEM, compared with N1,329.21 previously, according to the report’s exchange-rate summary.
Meanwhile, the NASD Over-the-Counter market moved in the opposite direction to the NGX.
The NASD Security Index declined 0.15 per cent to 4,526.76 points, while market capitalisation fell by the same percentage to approximately N2.72 trillion. Trading volume on the OTC market dropped 62.20 per cent to 377,601 units.
Taken together, Thursday’s figures present a capital market characterised by greater trading intensity but sharply divided investor positioning.
The NGX may have ended marginally higher, but the simultaneous 10 per cent rise in Seplat and 10 per cent fall in Aradel — alongside negative overall market breadth — show that investors remain highly selective about where they are putting their money.
