NGX up 51% in 2026, but Oil & Gas sector surges 111%
By Aboki Forex —
Nigeria's stock market is heading into the second half of 2026 after a sharp correction that wiped over 16,500 points off the All-Share Index since May's historic high. But fresh NGX data reveals the sectors that have genuinely created wealth for investors.
As of the close of trading on Friday, June 19, the benchmark All-Share Index carried a year-to-date return of +51.62%. That is an exceptional performance by any global standard. But beneath that benchmark figure, sector divergence has been dramatic.
Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods delivered returns that more than double the market average. Banking and Insurance have significantly underperformed.
Outperformers: Sectors beating the market
A ranking of all NGX sectoral and key indices by year-to-date performance as at June 19, 2026 reveals a clear two-tier market: the outperformers and the underperformers.
At the top sits the NGX Oil/Gas Index, up +111.13% year-to-date. This return is so far above the market benchmark that it occupies a category of its own. Two oil majors, Aradel Holdings Plc and Seplat Energy Plc, are the key drivers. Geregu Power emerged as the lone drag.
The NGX Industrial Goods Index at +95.79% is the second strongest performer. It nearly doubled investor wealth in under six months. Cement majors and manufacturing stocks drove this return, benefiting from infrastructure spending expectations and the gradual stabilisation of input costs.
The NGX Premium Index at +70.32% reflects the year's quality bias. The exchange's largest and most liquid stocks outperformed the ASI by nearly 19 percentage points. Institutional investors, both domestic and foreign, have most closely tracked this index. Its outperformance confirms that the year's rally was not purely speculative. It was anchored in the market's most fundamentally visible names.
The NGX Lotus II Index at +85.15% tracks Sharia-compliant equities. Its return, well above the market benchmark, reflects compositional overlap with energy and commodity-adjacent stocks that drove the broader rally.