Lagos, Nigeria – The Nigerian Exchange enjoyed an impressive run in February 2026, climbing 16.60 percent to close at 192,826.8 points and moving ever closer to the key 200,000 milestone.
Tracked by the All-Share Index, the surge marks a third straight month of gains since November 2025’s dip and stands as the strongest monthly performance since the 35.28 percent rally of January 2024.
Okay News reports that over the month’s four trading weeks, the market closed the first three in positive territory, surging past 194,000 before a mild 1.11 percent decline brought the index back to 192,826.8. So far this year, the market is up 23.91 percent, with over 36 billion shares traded, driven mainly by strong buying interest in industrial, oil and gas, and banking heavyweight stocks.
The NGX Oil and Gas sector led February’s performance, rising 33.63 percent to close at 4,060.7 points with market volume exceeding 1.6 billion shares. Heavyweight stocks driving the rally included Aradel, which gained 38.94 percent, and Seplat, which rose 35.82 percent. In the mid-cap space, Japaul Gold surged 58.20 percent, while Eterna and Oando also contributed to the sector’s overall strong performance.
The NGX Industrial Goods sector followed, climbing 22.20 percent to break the 7,000-point barrier for the first time, closing at 7,314.6 with over 559 million shares traded. The surge was led by large-cap cement stocks, including Lafarge, Dangote Cement, and BUA Cement. The NGX Banking sector was the third-best performer, rising 16.67 percent with over 7.6 billion shares changing hands, driven by gains across both tier-one and tier-two banks.
The All-Share Index is now inching closer to the 200,000 threshold, and further rallies in large-cap stocks could push it higher. February 2026 was the market’s best-performing month since January 2024, though the market is currently overbought across major timeframes and could witness a retracement. This stock market rally was broad-based, with four of five major sectors closing in positive territory for the month.
