Nigerian Exchange — NGX ASI Adds 0.09% for June 15-19 Week as DEAPCAP Jumps 9.9% Despite 32 Decliners
The NGX ended the June 15-19, 2026 week up 0.09%, with 17 gainers against 32 losers. DEAPCAP, RT Briscoe and Jaiz Bank led advances, while banking names dominated turnover despite modest price declines.
|7 min read
Nigeria’s equity market ended the June 15-19, 2026 week with only a marginal gain, as the NGX ASI rose 0.09% to 1,806.61, even though losers outnumbered gainers by a wide margin at 32 to 17. That split matters more than the headline index move: it shows a market being held up by selective liquidity rather than broad-based risk appetite.
The pattern also fits the week’s global backdrop. Brent crude settled at $80.29 a barrel, up 0.6% on the day but down 3.5% over the week, as headlines swung between U.S.-Iran peace-talk optimism and warnings about tightening global oil inventories. For Nigeria, where oil still shapes fiscal inflows, FX liquidity and broader sentiment, a weekly drop in crude tends to cap enthusiasm for energy-linked names. At the same time, the naira traded at 1,358.2 per U.S. dollar, keeping the currency story central to any reading of local equity returns.
The first takeaway from this Nigerian Exchange weekly recap is that the market’s internal picture was softer than the index suggests. Out of in the weekly data set, declined, while only advanced and were unchanged. In practical terms, more than half the board finished in the red even as the benchmark edged higher.
That divergence came from heavy concentration in banking counters. The most active names by value were all lenders or financial holdings, and most of them posted small weekly declines:
•Zenith Bank: -0.4%, traded value 3,004,791,442.5 NGN
•First HoldCo: +0.2%, traded value 457,578,304.15 NGN
Those numbers underline a key feature of the Nigeria stock market analysis right now: investors are still rotating through banks because the sector sits at the centre of recapitalisation, balance-sheet repricing and high-rate transmission. Even when weekly price moves are limited to between -2.2% and +0.2%, turnover remains deep because the market is still reassessing capital needs and earnings resilience under Nigeria’s tighter monetary conditions.
DEAPCAP and RT Briscoe lead a selective rally
The clearest positive story of the week came from smaller names rather than the market’s usual heavyweights. Deap Capital Management & Trust surged 9.9% to 4.89 NGN, making it the best-performing stock in the weekly table. RT Briscoe followed with a 9.6% gain to 13.10 NGN, while Jaiz Bank rose 7.1% to 9.00 NGN. Although that banking move is notable, the broader editorial picture is that gains were highly selective rather than sector-wide.
The rest of the gainers’ board reinforces that point:
Oando is worth isolating because its 1.1% rise came in a week when Brent fell 3.5%. That suggests stock-specific positioning and domestic energy expectations mattered more than the oil tape alone. Still, the weekly retreat in crude likely prevented a stronger rerating across oil-linked counters. In Nigeria, where export receipts and FX availability remain tightly linked to the barrel, oil below $81 tends to moderate equity optimism rather than amplify it.
Insurance and selected industrial names drag the broader board
If the winners’ list was narrow, the losers’ list was both longer and sharper. Royal Exchange dropped 10.0% to 1.53 NGN, matching the 10.0% fall in Nigerian Aviation Handling Co. to 148.50 NGN. Neimeth International Pharma lost 9.6% to 8.95 NGN, AIICO Insurance fell 9.1% to 4.00 NGN, and John Holt declined 8.6% to 11.20 NGN.
The insurance segment stood out for the wrong reasons:
•Linkage Assurance: -8.1% to 1.47 NGN
•Prestige Assurance: -4.1% to 1.41 NGN
•Regency Alliance Insurance: -4.0% to 0.97 NGN
•AIICO Insurance: -9.1% to 4.00 NGN
•Royal Exchange: -10.0% to 1.53 NGN
That weakness was not random. On June 17, 2026, the NGX published both a market bulletin and a regulatory bulletin announcing the suspension of trading in Fortis Global Insurance Plc. Even without a full stock-by-stock causality map, the timing matters. When a suspension hits one insurer, the market quickly reprices governance, compliance and liquidity risk across the peer group, especially among lower-priced names where confidence can shift by 4% to 10% in a single week.
Official announcements shaped the tone more than the index move
The week featured 4 official announcements in total. Two, dated June 17, concerned the suspension of Fortis Global Insurance Plc. Two more, dated June 15, related to NGX Listing — June 2026. For the Nigerian stock exchange today, that matters because market structure and regulatory discipline can become as important as earnings when the benchmark is moving by only 0.09%.
The focus on insurance was reinforced by the list of stocks carrying announcements on the day, including AFRINSURE, AIICO, CILEASING, CORNERST, FTGINSURE, GUINEAINS, INTENEGINS, LASACO, LINKASSURE, MANSARD, MBENEFIT, NEM, PRESTIGE, REGALINS and RONCHESS. In a market with weak breadth, information density often drives short-term positioning. That helps explain why some insurance counters underperformed the broader board even though the NGX all share index itself barely moved.
For recent context, the pattern extends a market already showing selective resilience rather than broad strength, as seen in Bourse du Nigeria — Cornerstone Insurance bondit de 9,3% malgré 52 replis sur le NGX. The difference this week is that index stability leaned more heavily on liquid large caps while the average stock remained under pressure.
Macro links: oil softer, naira still decisive, banks remain the market’s core signal
The global-local transmission was straightforward this week. Brent at $80.29, down 3.5% over five sessions, reduced immediate support for Nigerian energy sentiment and tempered expectations around oil-linked fiscal comfort. At the same time, USD/NGN at 1,358.2 kept pressure on import costs, financing conditions and the dollar value of local equity gains. A 0.09% rise in naira terms is not the same thing as a meaningful real return when the currency remains a dominant macro variable.
That is exactly why banks continued to absorb the largest flows. They sit at the intersection of 3 major themes: high interest-rate transmission, regulatory recapitalisation and the post-2023 adjustment to a more flexible FX regime. Even without strong weekly price appreciation, turnover in Zenith, GTCO, Access, UBA and First HoldCo shows the market still treats the sector as the clearest listed proxy for Nigeria’s macro reset.
Outlook: listings, regulatory follow-through and bank flows in focus
For the week ahead, traders will first parse any follow-up to the June 15 NGX listing notices and any additional developments linked to the June 17 suspension of Fortis Global Insurance. The next key question is whether turnover remains concentrated in banks or broadens into other sectors after a week in which 32 stocks fell despite a positive index close.
Macro will remain just as important. If Brent stays near $80 or weakens further, energy names may struggle to find a fresh catalyst. If the naira stabilises around 1,358.2 per dollar, that would be constructive for financials and for companies exposed to imported inputs. Without making any price call, the next phase for the Lagos stock market will hinge on 3 measurable variables: regulatory clarity, the persistence of bank-led liquidity, and the joint path of oil and FX.
