Limit-Up Leaders Snap the Losing Run
The Nigerian Exchange closed the week firmly in positive territory on Friday, as heavyweight buying lifted the benchmark index by 0.92% and ended the two-day decline recorded on Wednesday and Thursday. The All-Share Index had slipped from 245,911.13 on Tuesday to 244,956.94 by Thursday's close, shedding ₦103.6 billion in the previous session alone, before Friday's rebound added ₦1.47 trillion in a single day.
The turnaround was driven by the market's largest industrial name and one of its biggest financial groups. Dangote Cement surged the maximum 10.00% to ₦1,111.00, while First HoldCo matched the move, also rising 10.00% to ₦144.10. With Dangote Cement carrying the largest weighting in the index among industrial stocks, its limit-up move accounted for a substantial share of the day's point gain.
Gainers, Losers and Activity
Beyond the two limit-up leaders, Guinea Insurance added 9.41% and Fidelity Bank climbed 9.09% to ₦24.00, extending the banking stock's strong run this week. Market breadth was nevertheless slightly negative, with 23 stocks advancing against 25 decliners, a sign that the index gain was concentrated in a handful of heavyweights rather than spread across the board.
On the losing side, Livestock Feeds fell 9.79% to ₦17.05, followed by Tripple Gee (-8.74%), UPDC REIT (-8.14%) and HBM Nigeria (-7.65%). Livestock Feeds was also the session's most traded stock by volume with 46.8 million shares, ahead of Lasaco Assurance (23.8 million), Sovereign Trust Insurance (21.5 million) and Stanbic IBTC Holdings (19.8 million).
Total activity came to 353.88 million shares valued at ₦22.30 billion in 33,539 deals. Compared with Thursday, volume eased slightly while turnover improved, consistent with value concentrating in higher-priced names such as Dangote Cement and First HoldCo.
What It Means for the Week Ahead
Friday's close at 247,222.27 was the highest of the five sessions in the October 19–23 week, leaving the market back on the front foot after a mid-week bout of profit-taking. The pattern of the session — a strong headline gain built on two limit-up heavyweights while decliners marginally outnumbered advancers — suggests investors were selective rather than broadly risk-on.
Attention now turns to whether the momentum in Dangote Cement and the banking names holds when trading resumes on Monday, and to the closing days of the Dangote Refinery public offer, which is scheduled to close on Tuesday, October 27.
