Transcorp Hotels, BUA Cement lead heavyweights as All-Share Index adds N600 billion

The Nigerian All-Share Index returned to bullish territory on March 12, 2026, gaining 1,010.2 points to close at 196,908.7, marking a recovery above the 196,000-threshold.

This represents a 0.52% increase from the previous close of 195,898.5 points, reflecting renewed buying interest in the market, with Transcorp Hotels up over 7% and BUA Cement rising 5%.

The gain occurred despite a decline in trading activity, with total market volume dropping to 549 million shares from 671 million shares recorded earlier.

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Equity capitalization rose to N126.3 trillion across 55,465 deals, up from N125.7 trillion in the previous session, representing a N600 billion increase.

What the data is saying

Market sentiment returned to a bullish trajectory on March 12, 2026, pushing the Nigerian market’s year-to-date return higher to 26.54%.

• FTN Cocoa and Fidson-led the gainers’ chart, advancing by 10.00% and 9.97%, respectively, reflecting strong buying interest in both counters.
• On the losing side, profit-taking pressured Eterna and OmatekVentures, which each declined by 10% during the trading session.

In terms of trading volume, Fortis Global led activity with 32.1 million shares, followed by Access Holdings (28.1 million) and First HoldCo (27.7 million), while Zenith Bank (27.4 million) and Dangote Cement (26.8 million) also recorded notable trades.

By market value, Dangote Cement dominated turnover at N20.6 billion, followed by Aradel (N4.11 billion), Zenith Bank (N2.5 billion), GTCO (N1.59 billion), and Presco (N1.53 billion), highlighting where investor interest was concentrated.

**Top 5 Gainers **

• FTN Cocoa — up 10.00% to N6.27
• Fidson— up 9.97% to N105.85
• DeapCapital — up 9.89% to N7.00
• Caverton — up 9.40% to N6.40
• Livestock Feeds — up 9.30% to N7.05

Top 5 Losers

• Eterna — down 10.00% to N42.30
• OmatekVentures— down 10.00% to N2.52
• SCOA — down 9.94% to N22.65
• Fortis Global — down 9.24% to N1.08
• Sovereign Trust Insurance — down 9.09% to N2.10

**SWOOTs Performance **

Among the SWOOTs—stocks valued above N1 trillion—performance was bullish during the session.

• Transcorp Hotels gained 7.01%, BUA Cement rose 5.23%, International Breweries advanced 1.7%, MTN Nigeria increased 0.63%, Lafarge gained 0.29%, while BUA Foods edged up 0.18%.
• Stanbic IBTC declined by 2.96%.

FUGAZ Performance

Performance among FUGAZ stocks was also mixed.

• Zenith Bank gained 0.16%.
• GTCO shed 0.47%, UBA fell 0.43%, and Access Holdings declined 0.40%.

What you should know

• Activity on the Nigerian Exchange remains subdued, with market volume dropping to 549 million shares.
• If bullish momentum returns to large-cap counters, the index could return above the 197,000 level.
• However, the market is technically overbought, suggesting a possible retracement may occur.

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