Nigerian Stocks Fall 0.19% as Banking Heavyweights and Presco Drag Market

The Nigerian equities market closed lower on Friday, July 24, 2026, dropping 0.19% as profit-taking in Presco Plc and banking heavyweights outweighed broader market gains.

The benchmark NGX All-Share Index (ASI) fell to 247,357.40 points, erasing roughly ₦305.82 billion in equity value to bring market capitalization down to ₦159.59 trillion. Year-to-date returns moderated to 58.96%.

Presco led the decliners, hitting the maximum daily loss of 10.00% to close at ₦2,070.00. Heavyweight banking stocks drove the broader dip, with notable pullbacks from Fidelity Bank (-4.55%), UBA (-4.37%), CWG (-4.15%), May & Baker (-2.38%), Transcorp (-2.13%), NGX Group (-1.27%), and Oando (-1.11%). Minor losses in market giants such as First HoldCo, Zenith Bank, GTCO, Access Holdings, Wema Bank, Guinness Nigeria, and Dangote Sugar Refinery added further drag.

Conversely, Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Fund topped the gainers (+10.00% to ₦127.60), alongside C&I Leasing (+9.48%) and Cornerstone Insurance (+9.09%). Market breadth stayed positive—33 gainers against 25 decliners—showing that buying interest remained alive across medium- and small-cap stocks.

Trading activity slowed, with volume down 21.45% to 614.55 million shares valued at ₦32.95 billion across 55,282 deals. Access Holdings was the most traded stock by volume (128.01 million shares), while Aradel Holdings led overall turnover value at ₦6.62 billion.