NGX Swells By N25trn In 7 Weeks

The Nigerian equities market is currently experiencing what industry experts have described as a phenomenal rally, closing last Friday at N125.1 trillion in market capitalisation, up from N99.38 trillion recorded on the final trading day of 2025.

So far in 2026, the market has kept a bullish note as investors gained over N25 trillion in seven weeks.

This is just as market players projected a rate cut as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) meets this week, saying this would sustain the bullish performance of the NGX.

Daily Trust reports that the 304th MPC meeting, first in the Year 2026, has been fixed for today (Monday 23, 2026) and Tuesday February 24, 2026.

2026 market performance

Trading on NGX closed on December 31, 2025, with Nigeria’s capital market ranking among the strongest-performing globally.

By the end of the year, the NGX All-Share Index had risen 51.19 percent to 155,613 points, up from 102,926 at the start of 2025. Total equity market capitalisation expanded by more than N36.6 trillion, reaching N99.38 trillion, one of the largest absolute increases recorded across global equity markets during the year.

This was in spite of the market’s ‘worst’ monthly performance in recorded history, shedding a staggering N6.54 trillion in market capitalization in November 2025.

The sharp selloff was largely driven by intensified profit-taking triggered by mounting investor apprehension over the impending implementation of a 30% Capital Gains Tax (CGT) expected to commence on January 1, 2026.

“The Nigerian capital market in 2025 demonstrated resilience despite domestic and global economic headwinds,” Group Managing Director and CEO of NGX Group, Temi Popoola, said.

“The performance highlights the importance of policy consistency, purposeful reforms, and strategic collaboration in strengthening investor confidence and sustaining market growth,” he added.

He added that continued investment in technology and market infrastructure helped expand access, enhance transparency, and improve operational efficiency across the market.

On the 2026 outlook, NGX Group said it will prioritise deeper collaboration with regulators, issuers, market operators, and policymakers, while continuing to invest in technology to sustain momentum and broaden market access.

“We remain optimistic about the opportunities ahead and committed to positioning Nigeria’s capital market as a key driver of economic growth and wealth creation,” Popoola said.

He added that the Group aims to strengthen its role as Africa’s preferred exchange hub.

Market hits N100trn milestone in January

The equities market opened 2026 on a buoyant note, with the Exchange recording a N6.8 trillion rise in market capitalisation in January.

This was driven by strong corporate earnings, sustained macroeconomic reforms, and renewed investor confidence.

The market hit the N100trn milestone in January.

Data from the NGX showed that total market capitalisation rose by N6.8 trillion, or 6.8 per cent, to N106.15 trillion as of January 30, 2026, from N99.376 trillion at the close of trading on December 31, 2025.

The rally pushed the market past the historic N100 trillion marks early in the year, underscoring the resilience of the bourse amid lingering global and domestic uncertainties.

Market operators attributed the upbeat performance to strong earnings by listed companies and the cumulative impact of reforms undertaken in recent years by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the NGX, which have strengthened market fundamentals and deepened investor participation.

The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) closed January 2026 at 165,370.40 basis points, representing a year-to-date (YtD) gain of 6.27 per cent, or 9,757.37 basis points, from its opening level of 155,613.03 basis points.

By contrast, the market’s performance in January 2025 was relatively modest, with the ASI closing at 104,496.12 basis points.

This represents a YtD increase of 1.53 per cent or 1,569.72 basis points from its 2024 closing level of 102,926.40 points.

Despite cautious trading by investors in January 2026, all major sectoral indices closed in positive territory, reflecting broad-based buying interest across the market.

The NGX Oil and Gas Index led the rally with a gain of 13.8 per cent to close at 3,038.79 basis points. It was followed by the NGX Insurance Index, which appreciated by 11.8 per cent to end the month at 1,329.16 basis points.

The NGX Banking Index advanced by 6.99 per cent to close at 1,621.77 basis points, while the NGX Industrial Goods Index gained 5.45 per cent to settle at 5,985.87 basis points. The NGX Consumer Goods Index also recorded a positive performance, rising by 3.2 per cent to close at 4,103.12 basis points on January 30, 2026.

Market analysts noted that the strong January showing followed an impressive full-year performance in 2025, when the NGX ASI delivered an annual return of 51.2 per cent.

February gains N19trn so far…

In the second month of the year, the Nigerian equities market has taken the bullish trading to a higher level with investors gaining about N19trillion so far in the month.

Investors gained N8.13 trillion only last week. And in the penultimate trading week, the market capitalization gained over N6trillion to settle at N117 trillion from N110.2 trillion.

Last week, the market gained in four of the five trading sessions as equity capitalisation surged to N125.1 trillion from N117.0 trillion recorded last week.

The All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 66.95% to close the week at 194,989.77 from the 182,313.08 recorded the previous week.

The equities market began the week on Monday on a bullish note as investors gained N5.1 trillion at the end of the trading session.

But there was a downward trend on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, as investors lost N577 billion, in five hours.

The market closed positively on Wednesday, as investors gained N684 billion.

The market closed positively on Thursday with N1.68 trillion gain, while the trading session ended on a bullish note on Friday as investors gained N1.23 trillion.

During the week, a total turnover of 7.662 billion shares worth N252.566 billion in 345,118 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 4.652 billion shares valued at N193.326 billion that exchanged hands last week in 286,751 deals.

The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 5.625 billion shares valued at N113.599 billion traded in 129,729 deals: thus contributing 73.41% and 44.98% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Services Industry followed with 493.131 million shares worth N5.866 billion in 30,396 deals.

In third place was the Oil and Gas Industry, with a turnover of 425.657 million shares worth N35.742 billion in 23,136 deals. 

Why market is booming, by analysts

Speaking with Daily Trust, market analysts attributed the rise in the equities market to reduction in inflation, naira appreciation and impressive performance of the listed companies last year.

“So, from the results we have seen so far, most of the companies had fantastic output for the year 2025. Definitely, shareholders are impressed by them.

“More than 80% of the companies have reported profits,” a market analyst, Adeleke Adebayo, told Daily Trust.

He pointed out that Nigeria’s economy “appears to be more stable”, with

inflation rate going down, the Naira appreciating against the dollar and the increase in foreign reserves.

Adebayo said government policies are favorable to companies as a lot of “companies have waivers on their imported imputes from the farmer companies, agricultural companies, and all that.”

He identified the ongoing recapitalization in the banking and insurance sectors as another driver of the boom in the equities market.

“So, if your company is recapitalized, what do you do with the money? You don’t produce anything.

“Insurance companies are a service industry. So, if the regulator forces you to go and look for 15 billion, what do you do with the money? You take it to anywhere you can invest, because you must give returns back to the shareholders, the providers of the funds. So, you have quite a lot of money coming to the market,” he said

Any bubble in sight?

Adebayo told Daily Trust that most of the companies currently performing are worth their prices.

“Across board, most companies are actually worthy of the current price levels that they are recording.

“When you look at their performance, you look at their records, you look at their earnings per share. So, I believe that there’s no bubble in sight.

“I believe the company’s results are justifying the kind of prices that we are selling. And then our market is predominantly Nigerian dominated,” he said.

…Bullish momentum possible on MPR cut

However, Mosopefoluwa Ayeni, Investment Research Analyst at Meristem Securities, in an interview said given the slowdown of inflation, he expects lower rates as the MPC takes a deicison this week, saying lower rates would reduce financing costs for businesses and boost corporate valuations.

“We expect a rate cut and if the MPR cuts rate by 100 basis, we expect that this should bring the rates downward in terms of borrowing costs and this should give more banks the ability to borrow or lend at cheaper costs and in terms of how we expect this to affect liquidity in the system, we know that liquidity has been high and this has been one of the considerations by the Central Bank authorities.”

But Bankole Odusanya, the Chief Dealer at Polaris Bank, expects that there would be some “corrections” as the nation approaches the election year.

“I’m not expecting a crash, but there’ll be corrections here and there. So, it just calls for cautious optimism,” Odusanya said while featuring on the Capital Market, a programme on Channels Television.

He cautioned investors “to listen to the fundamentals, not every stock worth the price movement. You need to be very careful so that you do not get burnt. And this is to traders and investors, we owe them the duty to let them know that we have seen these cycles before, it will be a bubble for some companies.

“You just have to be careful. Watch out for prices and the financial statements that will be released from now.” (Daily trust)