Nigerian Stock Market Sustains Bullish Momentum with Significant Mid-Week Gains
The Nigerian stock market demonstrated remarkable resilience on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, maintaining its upward trajectory as investors actively traded shares worth over N36 billion. This sustained performance reflects growing confidence in the market despite some fluctuations in trading activity.
Market Indicators Show Positive Movement
The All-Share Index (ASI), a key benchmark for market performance, recorded a substantial increase of 1,336.4 points to settle at 219,586.20 points. This represents a 0.61% gain from the previous day's close of 218,249.81 points. The market's year-to-date return strengthened to an impressive 41.11%, indicating sustained investor optimism throughout the current fiscal period.
Market capitalisation, which measures the total value of all listed companies, experienced significant growth, rising to N141.38 trillion from N140.5 trillion. This increase highlights the overall value appreciation across the market despite a noticeable decline in trading volume, which dropped to 683.68 million shares from 842.4 million shares in the previous session.
Five Companies Dominate Gainers Table
The market rally was primarily driven by strong performances in mid- to large-cap stocks, with five companies emerging as clear leaders:
- Chemical & Allied Products (CAP) surged by 10.00% to close at N110.00
- Trans-Nationwide Express gained 10.00% to reach N7.92
- UACN advanced by 10.00% to N121.00
- Vitafoam increased by 10.00% to N143.00
- Transcorp Hotels climbed by 10.00% to N223.30
These gains were supported by positive sector performance, particularly in consumer goods, industrial, and banking stocks, which attracted substantial buying interest from investors.
Decliners and Most Active Stocks
Despite the overall positive sentiment, some stocks experienced declines, with Neimeth leading the losers table after dropping 10.00% to N9.00. Other notable decliners included Abbey Mortgage Bank (down 9.85%), LivingTrust (down 8.94%), ABC Transport (down 8.65%), and Halldane McCall (down 6.23%).
Trading activity remained robust with 51,694 deals executed during the session. First Holdco emerged as the most active stock by volume, trading 76.6 million shares, followed by UBA with 55.2 million shares and Access Holdings with 52.4 million shares. By value, First Holdco also led with N5.7 billion in trades, while GTCO and UBA recorded N4.8 billion and N2.8 billion respectively.
Zenith Bank Achieves Historic Milestone
In a separate but related development, Zenith Bank Plc achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first Nigerian financial institution to surpass the N5 trillion market capitalisation mark. The bank's shares rose 0.9% to N124 at the close of trading, lifting its market capitalisation to N5.09 trillion from N4.72 trillion.
This achievement follows sustained investor optimism around the bank's strong earnings performance and its planned listing on the London Stock Exchange by 2027. The milestone reinforces Zenith Bank's position as a leading player in Nigeria's financial sector and reflects broader confidence in the banking industry's prospects.
The market's performance demonstrates the resilience of Nigeria's capital markets amid evolving economic conditions, with institutional and retail investors showing continued interest in fundamentally strong companies across various sectors.
