Nigerian Exchange — NGX ASI Slips 1.21% Despite Three 10% Winners and NGN 8.2bn MTNN Turnover
The NGX ASI fell 1.21% in the week to April 24, 2026, even as UPDC, Academy Press and Haldane McCall each gained 10%. Trading stayed concentrated in MTNN, Lafarge Africa and Dangote Cement as heavyweight weakness and a still-soft naira capped the broader market.
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The week’s defining feature on the Nigerian Exchange was a sharp contradiction: the NGX ASI fell 1.21% by Friday, April 24, 2026, even as UPDC, Academy Press, and Haldane McCall each posted the maximum 10.0% gain. At the same time, turnover stayed heavily concentrated in MTN Nigeria, which led the market with NGN 8.2 billion in traded value, underscoring a market where liquidity is clustering in a few large names while the broader tape remains uneven.
That split matters for any serious NGX weekly recap. Market breadth was actually positive, with 43 advancers, 26 decliners, and 77 unchanged stocks out of 146 tracked names. Yet the index still closed lower because, on the Lagos stock market, weakness in a handful of heavyweight financial and consumer counters outweighed gains in smaller and mid-cap stocks. In other words, this was not a week of broad capitulation; it was a week of selective buying inside a softer index structure.
Key figures
- NGX ASI: 1,633.23 points, down 1.21% for the week
- MTNN traded value: NGN 8.2 billion, the highest on the board
- UPDC, Academy Press, Haldane McCall: +10.0% each
At 1,633.23 points, the NGX all share index ended the week lower, but the decline says more about market concentration than about universal selling pressure. Verified trading data show that activity was dominated by a small cluster of liquid names. Dangote Cement recorded NGN 3.50 billion in traded value, Lafarge AfricaNGN 3.18 billion, while Aradel Holdings reached NGN 3.05 billion. When turnover is this concentrated, index direction becomes highly sensitive to the behavior of a few large counters rather than the average stock.
Global macro conditions also shaped the week. The USD/NGN rate stood at 1,352.78, up 0.41%, a reminder that naira stability remains fragile rather than complete. That matters because nominal gains in NGN still need to be assessed against currency erosion, especially for investors comparing local returns with dollar benchmarks. At the same time, Brent crude at $99.71 a barrel was up 4.4% for the week, despite a 5.1% daily drop. For Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, that is a meaningful macro support: stronger oil prices can improve external earnings, fiscal room, and sentiment toward energy-linked names. The combination of firmer oil and a still-soft currency helps explain why sector performance was so uneven across the board.
Three 10% gainers, but no broad-based rally
The headline movers were clear. UPDC rose 10.0% to NGN 4.4, Academy Press climbed 10.0% to NGN 7.7, and Haldane McCall added 10.0% to NGN 3.97. On the surface, three limit-up moves in one week might suggest a strong market. In practice, they point more to pockets of speculative rotation than to a broad rally, because the gains were not matched by the largest index drivers.
The rest of the gainers’ table reinforces that reading. Zichis Agro Allied Industries advanced 9.9% to NGN 15.6, Wema Bank gained 9.8% to NGN 31.25, Ecobank Transnational Inc. rose 8.8% to NGN 78.0, and Stanbic IBTC Holdings added 6.6% to NGN 162.5. The presence of several financial names among the winners is notable. Nigeria’s banking sector remains shaped by recapitalization requirements and capital-raising expectations, so investors are increasingly differentiating between lenders based on balance-sheet strength, earnings resilience, and their ability to navigate historically high interest rates.
But the decliners had more index impact. Access Holdings fell 2.2% to NGN 31.3, FCMB Group lost 1.9% to NGN 12.65, First HoldCo dropped 2.6% to NGN 75.0, and Transcorp Nigeria slipped 1.9% to NGN 47.1. In consumer names, Dangote Sugar Refinery declined 2.0% to NGN 72.0, even after NGX published a market bulletin on April 21 regarding its proposed rights issue. That reaction suggests the market is already weighing possible dilution, even if the capital raise could strengthen the company’s balance sheet over time.
MTNN dominates turnover as cement stocks regain leadership
The most revealing stock of the week was not necessarily the biggest gainer, but the one that absorbed the most money. MTN Nigeria was nearly flat at +0.1%, yet it posted NGN 8.201 billion in traded value, far ahead of every other name on the board. That gap between price action and turnover is significant. It points to heavy repositioning without a clear directional consensus. It also came in a week when the press focused on service-quality issues and subscriber compensation linked to regulatory directives, as reported by Techpoint Africa and Nairametrics. Even without a major exchange filing, MTNN remains a core proxy for digital consumption, telecom pricing power, and regulatory risk in the Nigeria stock market analysis.
Cement, by contrast, provided more visible support. Lafarge Africa jumped 7.2% to NGN 294.9 on NGN 3.18 billion in traded value, while Dangote Cement gained 2.3% on NGN 3.50 billion. That strength fits a broader sector narrative. Local media widely reported strong first-quarter numbers from BUA Cement, including NGN 193 billion in profit and 22.1% revenue growth to NGN 355 billion, according to Nairametrics, Premium Times Nigeria, and BusinessDay. Even though BUA Cement is not a stock to spotlight in this article, those results helped reinforce confidence in the cement space more broadly.
Why does that matter? Because cement remains one of the clearest ways to read domestic demand, infrastructure spending, and cost discipline in Nigeria. A Brent price near $100 can raise energy and logistics costs, but it can also improve macro liquidity and support public spending. Investors spent this week signaling that, for now, they believe pricing power and volume resilience in cement are strong enough to offset those cost pressures. That is one reason the dangote cement share price held firm despite a weaker overall index.
Official announcements: longer trading hours, debt listings, and funding signals
Away from price moves, the week was active on the regulatory and primary-market front. On April 21, NGX issued a notification on the extension of trading hours, alongside a revised trading schedule. That does not immediately change valuations, but it is important market infrastructure. For an exchange with roughly 148 listed stocks, the largest listed universe on the continent by count, longer trading hours can improve price discovery, execution flexibility, and liquidity distribution over time.
There were also several funding-related announcements. NGX bulletins on April 22 and April 23 covered commercial paper issuances by MeCure Industries and Coleman Technical Industries, while April 17 saw the listing of a UAC of Nigeria bond. Together, those transactions highlight a broader trend: with borrowing costs still elevated, more Nigerian corporates are using capital markets to diversify funding away from traditional bank loans. For retail readers following the Nigerian stock exchange today, that is a useful reminder that market depth is not built by equities alone; listed debt and short-term instruments are becoming a more visible part of the ecosystem.
What the winners and losers say about NGX today
The week’s leaderboard was clear:
•Top gainers
- UPDC: +10.0% to NGN 4.4
- Academy Press: +10.0% to NGN 7.7
- Haldane McCall: +10.0% to NGN 3.97
- Wema Bank: +9.8% to NGN 31.25
- ETI: +8.8% to NGN 78.0
- Lafarge Africa: +7.2% to NGN 294.9
•Top losers
- Meyer: -9.9% to NGN 16.8
- Trans-Nationwide Express: -9.3% to NGN 7.9
- C&I Leasing: -8.5% to NGN 5.9
- E-Tranzact International: -5.3% to NGN 17.05
- Fidson Healthcare: -4.9% to NGN 95.1
- Dangote Sugar: -2.0% to NGN 72.0
The pattern is telling. The sharpest moves were concentrated in secondary names, while the real battle for index direction was fought in telecoms, banks, and industrials. That is consistent with earlier weeks on NGX. For context, readers can revisit our previous piece, Bourse du Nigeria — Unilever Nigeria bondit de 10% malgré un NGX ASI en baisse de 0,21%, which described a similar disconnect between eye-catching single-stock rallies and a softer benchmark.
Outlook: Q1 earnings, bank capital moves, and the naira-oil balance
Next week’s focus will remain on the Q1 2026 earnings season, especially in banks, telecoms, and industrial names. The market will also watch for further details around Dangote Sugar’s proposed rights issue, any practical effects from NGX’s extended trading hours, and additional debt or commercial-paper activity as companies continue to manage high funding costs.
Macro will remain central. The naira at 1,352.78 per dollar and Brent near $100 are the two numbers that matter most right now. If oil stays elevated, it can support external earnings and energy-linked counters such as Oando, which rose 6.3% to NGN 47.85 this week. But if the currency weakens further, NGN-denominated gains will need to be read more cautiously, especially for import-dependent businesses. That tension between oil support and FX pressure is still the clearest framework for understanding NGX today.
