Nigerian stock market report for Week Three of August 2025

Nigerian Stock Market Weekly Report

Last week on the Nigerian Exchange felt like a textbook lesson in how markets often whisper before they roar. The headline numbers told one story, but the sector breakdown revealed a completely different one. On the surface, the All-Share Index slipped by 0.77% to 144,628.20 points, while market capitalization shed ₦704 billion, closing at ₦91.502 trillion. 

To the casual observer, this was a weakness. However, seasoned investors know that when the broader index falls while select subsectors surge, it signals a rotation rather than a retreat.

Indeed, that’s precisely what happened. The Insurance sector stormed ahead with an 8.21% gain, while the NGX Growth Index skyrocketed 9.50%, a massive divergence from the rest of the market, which largely drifted lower. If you were in the right pockets of the market, last week was anything but bearish.

Volumes told their own story. Total turnover came in at 8.564 billion shares worth ₦99.94 billion in 177,870 deals, slightly softer than the prior week’s 8.736 billion shares worth ₦134.58 billion. 

In other words, fewer high-value trades but plenty of liquidity, suggesting more speculative, mid-tier positioning.

The real action was concentrated in insurance stocks, particularly Mutual Benefits Assurance, Linkage Assurance, and AIICO Insurance, which together accounted for 32.5% of all market volume. That’s a staggering concentration, showing where smart money decided to play defense while also chasing outsized short-term returns.

So as we enter this new week, the big question is: was last week’s dip in the All-Share Index a warning sign of cooling momentum, or a classic setup for selective rotation into growth and insurance-led plays?

See our full report of the NGX performance for the second week of august here.

Key Market Metrics Dashboard

Market Breadth: Negative – more losers (49) than gainers (50), and breadth deteriorated compared to the previous week.

Market Analysis Narrative

Here’s what really caught our attention last week: the divergence between headline weakness and sector-specific strength.

• The ASI declined because heavyweights in Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas, and Industrial Goods lost ground.
  
• Yet, insurance stocks exploded higher, with NGX Insurance Index up 8.21%, showing where defensive capital parked itself.
  
• Meanwhile, the NGX Growth Index surged 9.50%, suggesting that retail investors and opportunistic funds are doubling down on speculative growth names.
  

Trading value dropped sharply by ₦34.6 billion, indicating fewer large-scale institutional transactions. This often indicates that retail and mid-tier activity dominate the tape. That explains why penny stocks like Mutual Benefits Assurance (+31.85%) and Sunu Assurances (+23.8%) led the pack; these are not institutional favorites, they are retail-driven momentum names.

Market breadth was also weaker, only 50 gainers against 49 losers, compared to a more bullish 66 vs. 41 the week before. That’s a significant red flag: conviction narrowed even as insurance names stole the spotlight.

The pattern is clear: rotation into insurance and speculative growth, while broader market heavyweights struggled. Smart money may be quietly taking profits in blue-chip stocks while positioning for short-term gains in high-beta names.

Winners & Losers Analysis

Top 10 Gainers

Sector Trend: Insurance dominated, joined by a brewer (Champion), a construction giant (Julius Berger), and a pharma/health stock (Mecure).
Example: If you held Mutual Benefits Assurance, you gained nearly 32% in five days.

Top 10 Losers

Observation: Losers spanned real estate (UPDC), mortgage banking (Livingtrust), consumer goods (Unilever, Honeywell), and even the Exchange itself (NGX Group). This indicates that weakness was broad-based, extending beyond insurance.

Sector Performance Deep Dive

• Insurance: +8.21% (clear standout; retail/speculative capital inflow)
  
• Growth Index: +9.50% (investors rotated into smaller, high-growth names)
  
• Consumer Goods: -0.94% (profit-taking in food & staples)
  
• Oil & Gas: -1.42% (sector remains under pressure, -11.28% YtD)
  
• Industrial Goods: -0.83% (blue chips lagging)
  

The story is one of defensive rotation into insurance, while blue-chip sectors dragged the index lower.

Volume & Value Analysis

• Top 3 Equities by Volume:
  
  • Universal Insurance
    
  • Linkage Assurance
    
  • AIICO Insurance
    Together: 2.787 billion shares traded, 32.5% of total volume.
    
• Sector dominance: Financial Services accounted for 80.75% of all shares traded, although the value was lower, reflecting the dominance of cheap insurance and banking names.
  

Investor Psychology:

• High retail participation, chasing short-term pops in penny stocks.
  
• Institutions largely stayed on the sidelines, trimming big names and rotating defensively.
  

Corporate Actions & Market Events

• Chams Holding Rights Issue:
  
  • 2.348 billion new shares at ₦1.70 each
    
  • One new share for every two held
    
  • Opened August 8, closes September 12, 2025
    

Implication: Increased liquidity may temporarily weigh on Chams’ share price until it is absorbed.

What This Means for Your Strategy

For investors, last week’s trading pattern offered valuable lessons. With the All-Share Index down 0.77% and market capitalization shedding ₦704 billion, it may have appeared to be a bearish environment at first glance. Yet the standout performances from the NGX Insurance (+8.21%) and NGX Growth (+9.50%) indices showed that there were significant profit opportunities for those willing to rotate into the right sectors.

• Conservative Investors: For those seeking stability, banks and blue-chip dividend plays remain the anchor. The NGX Banking Index slipped only 0.23%, suggesting relative resilience despite profit‑taking. Holding established names such as GTCO, Zenith, and Access can provide steady dividends even if prices consolidate in the short term. 

These stocks are less likely to deliver explosive gains, but they serve as a stabilizing force in a volatile market. Investors should, however, prepare for swings as institutional players reallocate capital, especially with corporate actions like rights issues increasing liquidity in select names.

• Growth-Oriented Investors: The clear winners were insurance and high‑growth stocks. Mutual Benefits Assurance (+31.85%), Tripple Gee (+30.23%), and Sunu Assurances (+23.80%) highlighted how quickly momentum can build in this space. The NGX Growth Index’s 9.5% surge underscores that speculative capital is chasing high‑beta plays. 

For those with risk appetite, this space offers outsized upside, but timing is critical. These names can reverse just as sharply, so profit-taking discipline and stop-loss strategies are crucial.

• Value Hunters: This was also a week of opportunities for contrarian investors. Oversold names, such as Unilever Nigeria (–10.29%), NGX Group (–8.66%), and Honeywell Flour Mills (–8.47%), fell significantly, not due to catastrophic news, but rather because of sector rotation and profit-taking.

 In such situations, patient investors can accumulate at attractive levels, betting on medium‑term recoveries. Likewise, VFD Group (–11.19%) and Berger Paints (–14.67%) may appeal to value seekers if fundamentals remain intact.

Key Insight: The market is not retreating; it is rotating. Defensive insurance names and speculative growth stocks are outperforming, while blue-chip stocks are consolidating and temporarily losing value. Successful strategies this week will rely less on the overall market direction and more on selective stock-picking, disciplined entry points, and the ability to recognize which sectors are attracting smart money flows.

Key Insight: The market is rotating. Blue chips are consolidating, while defensive insurance and speculative growth names are outperforming. That’s often the precursor to a breakout in select undervalued large caps.

Forward-Looking Analysis

Going into the week of 18th August 2025, here’s what to watch:

• Support Level: ASI at 144,000 (watch if it holds).
  
• Resistance Level: 146,000 (a breakout above could restart momentum).
  
• Catalysts:
  
  • Insurance rally sustainability: Was last week overdone?
    
  • Oil & Gas Weakness: Are There Any Rebound Opportunities?
    
  • Chams Rights Issue: Liquidity Event Impact.
    

Bottom Line: The market is signaling a pause-and-rotate phase. Expect sideways index movement, but stock-picking in insurance, select growth, and oversold large caps could define this week’s winners.

Please note that this analysis reflects market observations and institutional patterns, rather than personalized investment advice. Always conduct your due diligence and consider your risk tolerance before making investment decisions.