The Nigerian equities market opened the week on a cautious note on Monday, May 18, 2026, extending the mild pullback recorded in the previous trading session as investors continued profit-taking activities following the sustained market rally witnessed in recent weeks.
The benchmark NGX All-Share Index (ASI) declined marginally by 0.05% to close at 250,204.83 points, down from 250,330.92 points recorded in the prior session. Consequently, market capitalisation shed N80.81bn, while the market’s year-to-date (YTD) return moderated slightly to 60.79%, reflecting a temporary easing in bullish momentum.
The market weakness was primarily driven by selloffs across selected large and mid-cap counters, with notable declines recorded in AFRIPRUD (-7.05%), TIP (-6.19%), CAVERTON (-5.38%), UACN (-4.98%), DANGSUGAR (-2.75%), MBENEFIT (-1.63%), IKEJAHOTEL (-1.52%), AIICO (-1.26%), NB (-1.09%), WAPCO (-0.59%), UBA (-0.57%), UCAP (-0.26%), GTCO (-0.20%) ACCESSCORP (-0.19%), and 25 others.
Despite the negative market close, underlying sentiment remained relatively balanced, with market breadth evenly split between 39 gainers and 39 decliners, suggesting that buying interest persisted in select counters even as profit-taking pressure weighed on the broader index. OANDO and UPL topped the gainers’ chart, while ZICHIS led the decliners.
The Proshare Memorandum Indexes closed bearish, with the market cap-weighted index down 0.05% to 1,550.35 points from 1,551.06 points in the previous session, while the total return float-adjusted index was down 0.03% to 1,066.62 points from 1,066.29 points.Stocks & Bonds
Volume and Value Contribution
Market activity was down for the day, with total volume traded declined 26.16% to 800.46bn, valued at N37.05bn across 87,096 deals.
UBA recorded the highest volume with 64.97m units traded, accounting for 8.12% of the day’s volume, while ARADEL recorded the highest value at N6.15bn, accounting for 16.60% of the value traded for the day.
FIDELITYBK and ACCESSCORP accounted for 7.16% and 5.28% of total volume, respectively, while SEPLAT and UBA followed ARADEL in traded value.
NASD OTC Exchange – Unlisted Equities
Conversely, the unlisted NASD Securities Index (NSI) closed bearish today, down 1.31% to 4,133.70 points from 4,188.41 points on Friday.
The total volume traded declined to 514,442 valued at N17.40m, across 27 deals.
At the close of trading, the NASD OTC recorded four (4) gainers.
Commodities Market
AFEX Commodity Prices
The AFEX Commodity prices on Monday were broadly flat as Maize and Sorghum increased by 15.23% and 0.57% respectively to close at N421.50 and N409.44. Click here to access more data on AFEX commodity prices.
Global Commodity Prices
In the global commodity market, Gold decreased by 0.01% to close at US$4,547.42 while Silver increased by 0.18% to close at US$76.75. Brent and WTI crude futures climbed 1.52% and 1.99%, respectively, to close at US$110.03 and US$106.06 as of 02:16 PM GMT on Monday as fresh drone attacks in the Gulf pushed oil prices and bond yields higher.
Currency / FX Market
The average BDC rate depreciated 0.71% from N1,400/USD to N1,405/USD, while the NFEM rate depreciated by 0.19% from N1,371.04/USD to N1,373.70/USD.
Source: NGX, Proshare