Business
THE Nigerian equities market opened the week on a mildly bullish note, as the benchmark index advanced by 0.44%, lifting the year-to-date return to 40.17%.
Market activity weakened following a brief improvement in the previous week, as trading volume declined by 21.62% to 984.98 million shares. Similarly, total trade value fell by 6.49% to ₦50.95 billion, despite the overall positive sentiment.
Meanwhile, market breadth turned negative, with 38 gainers against 47 decliners, settling at 0.81x.On stock performance, NAHCO and UNIONDICON led the gainers’ chart, while LIVINGTRUST recorded the highest loss, followed by STANBIC.
The Financial Services sector, supported by banking stocks, dominated trading activity and led sectoral performance alongside the Insurance sector, which recorded a 0.60% uptick.
However, the Insurance sector remains in negative territory on both MTD and YTD bases. In contrast, the Oil & Gas sector corrected after last week’s rally, declining by 0.45% despite ARADEL featuring among the most traded stocks by value.
Furthermore, corporate actions were largely limited to AGM announcements, although SECURE and UPDC released their financial statements.
Fixed Income Market
Money market conditions opened the week tighter, with banking system liquidity constrained as the O/N rate rose by 7bps to close at 22.23%, while the OPR remained stable.
In the FGN bond market, selling pressure persisted in the mid-segment of the curve, while the short and long ends recorded mixed performance. Overall, average yields advanced by 24bps to close at 15.92%, reflecting bearish investor sentiment.
Meanwhile, the NTB market sustained its bullish momentum across tenors, with average yields declining by about 3bps to close at 17.39%, underpinned by broad-based buying interest.
However, Nigeria’s Eurobond market exhibited mixed investor sentiment as foreign reserves continues to decelerate. Investor caution persisted as oil prices surged and uncertainties resurfaced around a potential breach of the US-Iran truce.
Nonetheless, the market showed relative resilience, with more bonds recording gains, albeit insufficient to offset overall selling pressure.
Currency Market
Today, the naira weakened against the US dollar, with the USD/NGN pair rising marginally by 0.1% due to renewed market uncertainty following the halt in ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s external reserves extended their downward trend, declining to $48.62 billion as of April 17, 2026.
In the commodities market, Brent crude advanced more than 5% due to concerns that the fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran could break down. This followed the seizure of an Iranian cargo ship by the United States, while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained largely halted.
A.I
April 21, 2026
Tags: Nigerian stock market