FX turnover surges 98% to $3.37bn as NGX slips 0.97%

FX market turnover surged 98 per cent to $3.37bn. In equities, the Nigerian Exchange fell in the trading week ended Friday, October 9, 2026. Investors traded 2.715 billion shares worth N158.280bn in 209,986 deals. That reflected weaker momentum than the previous week.

Financials drive activity

Financial Services led by volume with 2.005 billion shares valued at N82.924bn in 94,483 deals. It accounted for 73.84 per cent of total equity turnover volume and 52.39 per cent of value. Consumer Goods followed with 152.345 million shares worth N11.425bn in 20,926 deals. ICT was third with 117.296 million shares worth N15.256bn in 22,556 deals. Access Holdings Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc combined for 1.020 billion shares worth N50.520bn in 29,382 deals.

Index falls, breadth negative

The NGX All-Share Index and market capitalisation both depreciated by 0.97 per cent to close at 248,363.55 and N161.260tn respectively. Most sector indices fell. The NGX Industrial Goods Index rose 0.02 per cent. Market breadth was negative. Twenty-four equities appreciated, down from forty-four in the previous week. Fifty-four equities depreciated and sixty-eight were unchanged. Livestock Feeds Plc led gainers with a 47.75 per cent rise from 8.90 naira to 13.15 naira. Critical Minerals Financing Corp Plc led decliners, down 20.27 per cent from 4.49 naira to 3.58 naira.

Corporate actions restructure market

The Federal Government listed its September 2026 FGN Savings Bonds on October 7, 2026. The two-year and three-year instruments carried coupons of 14.12 per cent and 15.12 per cent. Guinea Insurance Plc listed over 6.30 billion ordinary shares from a private placement at 1.45 naira per share. Its total paid-up capital rose to 17.45 billion shares. The suspension on Multi-Trex Integrated Foods Plc was lifted after it submitted overdue financial statements. Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc completed a share capital reconstruction. It delisted old shares and listed 6,850,233,171 newly reconstructed ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at 77.00 naira per share.

Foreign inflow stays weak

Foreign investors accounted for just 4.89 per cent of equity transactions on the NGX in August 2026. That was the lowest monthly participation share recorded during the year. Foreign trading contracted to N62.03bn. Total monthly equity transactions fell 46.38 per cent to 1.27 trillion naira from N2.37tn in July, according to the NGX Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment Report for August 2026. Turnover was still 39.75 per cent higher than the N908.4bn recorded in August 2025. Foreign equity transactions dropped 53.23 per cent to N62.03bn from N132.62bn. Domestic trading fell 45.98 per cent. Domestic investors dominated with about N1.21tn, nearly 19 times the value handled by foreign participants. In the first eight months of 2026, domestic investors drove 89.77 per cent of total equity turnover. Their trading value grew 117.64 per cent to N11.89tn from N5.46tn in the same period of 2025. The August slowdown was driven mainly by domestic institutional investors. Their transactions fell 60.39 per cent to N654.61bn from N1.65tn, accounting for roughly 90.9 per cent of the total monthly market turnover reduction. Retail trading dipped 5.08 per cent to N552.88bn. That raised the retail share of domestic transactions to 45.79 per cent. Domestic investors closed August with purchases of N615.83bn against sales of N591.66bn, a net buy position of N24.17bn.