The Nigerian equities market rebounded on 21 May 2026, gaining 111.7 points to close in positive territory at 249,175.4 points, following a volatile previous trading session.

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The recovery follows a sharp 2,571-point decline in the prior session, which dragged the All-Share Index below the key 250,000-point threshold to 249,063.7 points.

Market activity strengthened significantly during today’s trading session, with volume rising to 1.05 billion shares across 62,448 deals, compared to roughly 600 million shares recorded a day earlier.

Equities market capitalization closed at N159.7 trillion, while Sterling Financial Holdings emerged as the most actively traded stock by volume with 322.6 million shares exchanged.

What the data is saying

Trading sentiment remained bullish on 21 May 2026, as the Nigerian market’s year-to-date return edged higher to 60.13%, compared to 60.05% recorded in the previous session.

International Energy Insurance and ABC Transport led the gainers’ chart, advancing by 10.00% and 9.93% respectively to emerge as the session’s top-performing stocks.

Despite the positive close, profit-taking pressure weighed on some counters, with Berger Paints and Learn Africa declining by 10.00% and 9.96% respectively.

Sterling Financial Holdings dominated trading by volume with 322.6 million shares exchanged, followed by Japaul Gold at 96.3 million shares and Fidelity Bank at 57.03 million shares traded.

Access Holdings also posted significant trading activity with 52.2 million shares, while Lasaco Assurance recorded 42.5 million shares exchanged during the session.

By value traded, Aradel Holdings topped the chart with N5.06 billion, ahead of Zenith Bank at N3.06 billion and Sterling Financial Holdings at N2.5 billion.

MTN Nigeria and Fidelity Bank also featured among the most valuable trades of the day, recording N1.9 billion and N1.3 billion respectively.

Top 5 Gainers

  • International Energy Insurance — up 10.00% to N3.41
  • ABC Transport — up 9.93% to N9.08
  • Unilever Nigeria — up 9.80% to N168.00
  • Academy Press — up 9.74% to N8.45
  • Eunisell Interlinked — up 9.41% to N209.95

Top 5 Losers

  • Berger Paints Nigeria — down 10.00% to N147.60
  • Learn Africa — down 9.96% to N11.75
  • Daar Communications — down 9.95% to N1.90
  • RT Briscoe — down 9.93% to N12.79
  • May & Baker Nigeria — down 9.61% to N46.55

SWOOTs

Among Stocks Worth Over One Trillion Naira (SWOOTs), trading performance was broadly positive, with a number of heavyweight counters recording modest gains despite pockets of profit-taking pressure.

  • International Breweries advanced by 3.66%, while Wema Bank gained 1.21% during the trading session.
  • On the downside, Dangote Sugar slipped by 0.56%.

FUGAZ performance

Performance across the FUGAZ banking stocks was scanty during the trading session.

  • GTCO, Zenith Bank and Access Holdings closed flat.
  • Meanwhile, UBA declined by 0.55%, while First HoldCo slipped by 0.14%.

What you should know

The Nigerian All-Share Index now holds a quarter-to-date return of 23.79%, while its month-to-date performance stands at 2.85%.

Sectoral performance closed mixed, with the NGX Consumer Goods Index advancing by 0.52%, while the NGX Banking Index posted a modest gain of 0.03%.

On the downside, the NGX Insurance Index declined by 0.55%, the NGX Oil and Gas Index fell by 0.10%, and the NGX Industrial Goods Index slipped marginally by 0.01%.