Amid downturns in prominent American technology shares, worldwide stock exchanges displayed varied results over the past week, highlighting differing trends across regions as market participants dealt with milder inflation figures, year-end investment realignments, and shifts in central bank strategies.
Market moods fluctuated globally due to currency exchange movements, while debates on Wall Street centered on potential overvaluation in artificial intelligence sectors amid escalating expenditures.
In the United States, key benchmarks declined from the previous week, driven by underperformance in tech-heavy areas that dampened overall confidence. The NASDAQ Composite fell by 0.70% on a weekly basis, and the S&P 500 decreased by 0.57%, as traders analyzed the latest moderated inflation numbers and pondered the schedule for Federal Reserve interest rate reductions.
Experts from Anchoria Securities Limited identified sell-offs in rapidly expanding companies including Nvidia, Alphabet, and Microsoft, along with prudence in anticipation of annual portfolio adjustments, as factors fueling the downturn.
On the other hand, European exchanges advanced, supported by positive expectations regarding declining inflation and possible backing from monetary authorities.
The UK’s FTSE 100 climbed by 1.46% week-over-week, Germany’s DAX index gained 0.26% week-over-week, and France’s CAC 40 increased by 0.14%. In total, the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 advanced by 0.60%, indicating widespread stability throughout the area.
Importantly, market attitudes were bolstered by the European Central Bank’s choice to keep borrowing costs unchanged, holding its primary lending rate at 2.15% and indicating that although price pressures are subsiding, officials are wary of hasty relaxations.
This position offered comfort to investors that interest rate decreases might occur further into 2026, encouraging investment enthusiasm without causing instability. In Asia, attitudes were more restrained, with China’s FTSE A50 dropping by 0.60% week-over-week due to ongoing worries about strains in the real estate industry and sluggish revival in economic activity.
Ongoing structural expansion hurdles and restrained government incentives keep pressuring Chinese stocks, solidifying a guarded perspective for the area as 2026 approaches.
Nigeria’s NGX All-Share Index ended the week positively, continuing its ascent with a 1.76% gain from the prior week to settle at 152,057.38 points.
Investor demand for leading stocks such as BUAFOODS (up 6.02%), BUACEM (up 4.94%), NESTLE (up 10.00%), FIRSTHOLDCO (up 42.70%), and GUINNESS (up 33.01%) offset losses in entities like GTCO (down 2.00%), PRESCO (down 1.38%), and NB (down 3.52%), as the ratio of advancers to decliners improved to 1.56x, showing expansive optimism across the exchange.
Across industries, five out of six tracked segments finished higher, including Banking (up 2.75%), Consumer Goods (up 4.51%), Insurance (up 3.07%), Industrial Goods (up 0.72%), and Pension (up 1.89%), whereas Oil and Gas (down 0.17%) ended lower.
Total market value rose accordingly by 1.76% week-over-week to ₦96.94 trillion, with the NGX All-Share Index year-to-date performance at 47.73%.
