ABC Transport leads gainers as NGX index slips 0.52% in four-day week
By Aboki Forex —
Nigerian equities closed lower in a holiday-shortened week, with the NGX All-Share Index down 0.52% to 250,808.27 points from 252,113.41 points. Market capitalisation fell by about N812.61 billion, or 0.50%, to N162.843 trillion.
The Federal Government declared Thursday, October 1, 2026, a public holiday for Independence Day, leaving four trading sessions. The fall follows three straight weeks of gains that pushed the ASI past 252,000 points. Year-to-date return is 61.17%, while month-to-date return stands at -0.2%.
ABC Transport up 45%, Sovereign Trust worst
ABC Transport was the week's best performer, up 45.10% from N5.10 to N7.40. Critical Minerals Financing Corp rose 37.73% to N4.49 from N3.26, and LivingTrust Mortgage Bank gained 32.69% to N3.45 from N2.60. VFD Group climbed 18.42% to N13.50, CWG 15.28% to N20.75, Haldane McCall 13.67% to N3.41, University Press 13.19% to N5.15, John Holt 12.90% to N8.75, Eterna 12.82% to N44.00 and UPDC REIT 10.13% to N20.65.
Sovereign Trust Insurance led the losers, down 12.50% to N2.10 from N2.40. E-Tranzact fell 12.00% to N11.00, Learn Africa 11.05% to N7.65, PZ Cussons 10.03% to N66.40, Fortis Global Insurance 9.50% to N1.81, Thomas Wyatt 9.49% to N2.67 and Nigerian Exchange Group 8.86% to N168.60 from N185.00. FTN Cocoa lost 8.08% to N7.62, Chams Holding 7.18% to N3.23 and Cutix 6.91% to N2.29.
Banks drag, breadth stays positive
Losses in MTN Nigeria, First HoldCo, Access Holdings, GTCO, Nigerian Breweries and other large caps outweighed gains in Fidelity Bank, UACN, ETI and UBA. MTN Nigeria lost 2.67% to close at N840.00, the largest absolute fall at N23.00. First HoldCo shed 4.18%, Access Holdings 3.33%, GTCO 3.07%, Stanbic IBTC 0.61% and Zenith Bank 0.30%. UBA added 0.22%, Fidelity Bank 8.80% and Ecobank Transnational 1.30%. Transcorp Hotels posted the biggest absolute gain among ordinary shares, up N25.00 to N290.50.
Breadth stayed positive: 44 equities gained, down from 61; 37 fell, up from 32; and 65 were unchanged, against 63. Dangote Cement, Airtel Africa, Seplat Energy, BUA Cement, BUA Foods, Nestlé Nigeria, Presco and Aradel Holdings closed flat.
Turnover was 3.166 billion shares worth N155.023 billion in 206,662 deals, against 4.689 billion shares valued at N240.824 billion in 261,198 deals a week earlier. Financial Services led with 1.944 billion shares worth N77.733 billion in 92,035 deals, or 61.41% of volume and 50.14% of value. Investment followed with 409.484 million shares worth N5.400 billion in 1,444 deals, then ICT with 231.705 million shares worth N9.606 billion in 24,133 deals. Fidelity Bank, VFD Group and Access Holdings traded 1.343 billion shares worth N27.580 billion in 15,771 deals, or 42.42% of volume and 17.79% of value.
Sectors mixed, three firms list new shares
The NGX Insurance Index gained 0.61% to 1,100.30 points from 1,093.66, while Oil/Gas edged up 0.05% to 6,246.75 and Commodity closed flat at 1,948.37. Corporate Governance fell 1.43% to 7,559.54 from 7,669.13, Banking 1.33% to 2,685.71, Consumer Goods 0.91% to 4,057.09 and Industrial Goods 0.26% to 10,440.24.
Guinea Insurance listed 3,206,838,021 new shares on Monday, September 28, 2026, from a rights issue of 5,295,200,000 shares at N1.10, lifting its total from 7,942,800,000 to 11,149,638,021. Regency Alliance listed 3,684,210,525 shares the same day from a private placement of 7,368,421,052 shares at 95 kobo, taking its total from 18,679,385,062 to 22,363,595,587. The Initiates Plc listed 1,110,018,448 shares on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, from a rights issue of 177,996,310 shares at N7.00 and a public offer of 932,022,138 shares at N9.50, raising its total from 889,981,552 to 2,000,000,000.