Trading volume on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) jumped 22 percent to 2.024 billion shares last week, even as selling pressure spread across the market with 55 equities closing lower.
Investors traded 2.024 billion shares worth N110.773 billion in 173,113 deals during the week ended October 23, 2026, compared with 1.659 billion shares valued at N98.088 billion in 184,632 deals in the previous week.
The figures showed that while trading volume increased by approximately 22 percent and transaction value rose 12.9 percent, the number of deals declined by about 6.2 percent.
The divergence suggests that the increase in turnover was driven by larger volumes changing hands across fewer transactions rather than a broad increase in the number of deals executed during the week.
Market breadth also deteriorated sharply despite the increase in turnover.
Only 20 equities appreciated in price, down from 50 in the previous week, while the number of declining stocks jumped to 55 from 30. Seventy-one equities finished unchanged, compared with 66 previously.
The deterioration in breadth was substantially greater than the movement in the benchmark index suggested.
The NGX All-Share Index declined just 0.13 percent, falling from 247,539.73 points to 247,222.27 points, while market capitalisation ended the week at N160.519 trillion.
Weakness was more pronounced across several market segments. The NGX AFR Bank Value Index declined 3.30 percent, Insurance fell 2.79 percent, Oil and Gas dropped 2.55 percent, while the Commodity Index lost 1.78 percent.
Industrial Goods moved against the broader weakness, gaining 1.95 percent, while the Premium Index advanced 0.80 percent.
Trading activity was also concentrated in a relatively small number of equities.
Multitrex Integrated Foods, Zenith Bank and Livestock Feeds accounted for 521.565 million shares worth N19.093 billion, representing 25.76 percent of the entire market’s trading volume and 17.24 percent of transaction value.
Financial Services remained the dominant sector, accounting for 1.111 billion shares worth N53.908 billion, equivalent to 54.89 percent of total equity volume and 48.66 percent of value.
Consumer Goods followed with 394.039 million shares worth N9.811 billion, while Agriculture recorded 147.170 million shares valued at N2.821 billion.
Friday also contributed disproportionately to the increase in weekly turnover.
Investors exchanged 611.665 million shares on October 23, representing approximately 30.2 percent of the entire 2.024 billion shares traded during the week.
Friday’s volume was about 70 percent higher than the 360.706 million shares recorded on Thursday and substantially above the roughly 349 million to 354 million shares traded during each of the first three sessions of the week.
The combination of higher volume, fewer deals, concentrated trading and a sharp deterioration in market breadth showed that the 22 percent increase in turnover did not translate into broad-based strength across the Nigerian equities market.