By Boluwatife Oshadiya, Markets Reporter | March 15, 2026
Key Points
- Nigerian Exchange posts 27.5% year-to-date return after 10 weeks of trading
- Market capitalisation climbs to ₦127.36 trillion, gaining ₦923 billion week-on-week
- Premier Paints, Conoil and BUA Cement lead weekly rally on strong buying interest
Main Story
Nigeria’s equities market extended its bullish momentum last week as the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) delivered a 27.5% year-to-date return, with investors continuing to rotate funds into fundamentally strong stocks across the local bourse.
Trading data shows the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) rose 0.73% week-on-week to close at 198,407.30 points, pushing the total market capitalisation to ₦127.36 trillion, compared with ₦126.47 trillion recorded in the previous week.
The gain represents an increase of roughly ₦923 billion in market value, according to a market report released by Lagos-based investment firm Cowry Asset Management Limited.
Despite the upward movement in the benchmark index, market breadth remained negative. A total of 34 stocks recorded gains, while 61 declined, suggesting that a limited number of large-capitalisation stocks drove the broader market rally.
Investor activity also slowed during the week. Market statistics show the number of deals, trading volume and value traded declined by 14.19%, 10.45% and 7.36% respectively on a week-on-week basis.
By the close of trading, investors exchanged 3.31 billion shares worth ₦164.67 billion across 318,640 deals, slightly lower than the previous week’s trading levels.
Sector performance was mixed. The banking, insurance and commodity indices declined by 1.04%, 4.59% and 0.48%, respectively. Meanwhile, the consumer goods, oil and gas and industrial indices advanced by 0.63%, 1.50% and 5.73%, reflecting renewed interest in manufacturing and energy-linked stocks.
At the company level, Premier Paints Plc led the gainers’ chart with a 32.9% increase, followed by Conoil Plc (+20.9%), BUA Cement Plc (+20.0%), Fidson Healthcare Plc (+19.0%), and Omatek Ventures Plc (+18.2%).
On the losing side, SCOA Nigeria Plc (-34.1%), FTG Insure Plc (-20.8%), Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc (-20.7%), Alexandria Engineering Plc (-18.7%), and LivingTrust Mortgage Bank Plc (-17.4%) recorded the steepest declines as investors booked profits in previously appreciated stocks.
What’s Being Said
“The market continues to show resilience as investors selectively accumulate fundamentally sound stocks with growth potential,” analysts at Cowry Asset Management Limited said in a weekly market note.
“However, the negative market breadth indicates that the rally remains narrow, driven by a limited number of large-cap stocks rather than broad-based participation,” the firm added.
Market operators also noted that trading activity has become more cautious as investors track macroeconomic signals, corporate earnings expectations and monetary policy developments.
What’s Next
- Investors are expected to monitor upcoming corporate earnings releases and dividend announcements from listed companies
- Analysts will track macroeconomic indicators including inflation data and interest-rate expectations that could influence equity valuations
- Portfolio rebalancing and profit-taking may continue as the market approaches the 200,000-point psychological threshold on the NGX ASI
The Bottom Line: Nigeria’s equity market remains one of the strongest-performing frontier markets in 2026 so far, but the narrow breadth of the rally suggests investors are concentrating capital in a limited set of large and fundamentally strong companies.
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