May 18, 2026/Cordros Report
EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities markets kicked off the week lower as sell pressures in SEPLAT (-1.0%), WAPCO (-0.6%) and DANGSUGAR (-2.8%) offset demand for OANDO (+10.0%), TRANSCORP (+2.2%), and ZENITHBANK (+0.8%). As a result, the All-Share Index declined by 1bp to 250,311.33 points, causing the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns to moderate to 3.3% and +60.9%, respectively.
The total volume traded declined by 26.2% to 800.37 million units, valued at NGN37.02 billion, and exchanged in 86,934 deals. UBA was the most traded stock by volume at 64.97 million units, while ARADEL was the most traded stock by value at NGN6.15 billion.
On Sectors, the Consumer Goods (-0.3%), Insurance (-0.2%) and Industrial Goods (-0.1%) indices declined while the Oil and Gas (+0.4%) and Banking (+0.2%) indices closed higher.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x), as 32 tickers gained relative to 36 losers. NCR (-10.0%) and ZICHIS (-10.0%) led the laggards, while OANDO (+10.0%) and UPL (+10.0%) recorded the most significant gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 0.1% to NGN1,371.25/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 10bps to 22.1% in the absence of funding pressures on the system.
The Treasury bill secondary market traded on a bullish note, as the average yield contracted by 2bps to 17.5%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-2bps), mid (-2bps) and long (-2bps) segments due to demand for the 66DTM (-3bps), 171DTM (-3bps) and 353DTM (-3bps) bills, respectively. Meanwhile, the average yield closed flat in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, the FGN bond secondary market traded on a bearish note, as the average yield expanded by 2bps to 15.7%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp) end due to demand for the AUG-2030 (-7bps) bond, but expanded at the mid (+3bps) and long (+4bps) segments, driven by profit-taking activities on the APR-2030 (+14bps) and APR-2049 (+22bps) bonds, respectively.
