Business
NSE Oil/Gas Outweighs The Bears
The bearish run took a toll on almost all the major subsectors last week as indicated by the sectoral indices except the NSE Oil and Gas Index that rose marginally.
The NSE Oil and Gas, a gauge for the stocks listed in the petroleum marketing subsector rose by 0.28 per cent to close at 399.33 points.
On the other hand, the NSE food and beverages index nose dived by 7 per cent to fall at 491.03 points while the NSE banking index which measures banking stocks fell by 13.73 per cent to finish at 433.46 points.
The NSE insurance index also dropped by 7.53 per cent to close at 369.91 points while the NSE-30 index dropped by 8.84 per cent to close at 873.99 points.
The all shares index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) drifted by 10.71 per cent to close at 25,813.55 basis points having opened at 28,910.19 basis points.
The market capitalisation of the 193 first-tier equities finished lower at N5.9 trillion as against N6.6 trillion at which it closed the previous week.
In all, the market had investors staking N20.64 billion on a total of 2.64 billion shares in 36,728 transactions in contrast to N25.34 billion exchanged for 2.75 billion shares in 53,259 deals the previous week.
The banking subsector was the most active during the review week when measured by volume with 1.25 billion shares valued at N13.83 billon exchanged by investors in 21,647 deals.
Volume in the banking subsector was mainly driven by activity in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Access Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc.
Trading in the shares of these banks accounted for 694.5 million shares representing 55.5 per cent of the subsector’s total turnover.
The insurance subsector, boosted by activity in the shares of Goldlink Insurance Plc emerged second on the week’s activity chart with a turnover of 544.94 million shares worth N565.7 million exchanged in 3,694 trades.
Managing Director, Akomas and Partners, Prince George Akomas (left) listens to Zonal Secterary, Port Harcourt Zone Shareholders Association, Francis Orji at a seminar organised by Port Harcourt branch of the Nigerian Stock Exchange at the Hotel Presidential recently. Photo: King Osila
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
