Business
Bears Dominate NSE Market
The bears took dominance of the equity Market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for three days running last week as the twin market indicators finished on negative notes.
Specifically the All Share Index (ASI), the main index at the Nigerian bourse nose dired by 5.85 per cent from its recent high of 40,012.66 basis points on Tuesday of the week under review to close at 37,249.93 points.
The aggregate market capitalisation of listed equities lost N888 billion to close the week at N11.967 trillion, having peaked at N12.855 trillion on Tuesady of the review week.
Market analysts have attributed the decline to profit-taking transactions on highly capitalised stocks such as the consumer goods and industrial stocks.
According to the NSE weekly report, the bearish trend also reflected in all other NSE indices. The NSE 30 Index, the indicator for measuring 30 most capitalised companies on the Exchange fell by 5.86 per cent even as the NSE Consumer Goods Index plunged by 7.05 per cent. The NSE Banking Index fell by 7.23 percent while Insurnace Index shed 2.87 percent.
The NSE Oil and Gas Index dropped 5.82 percent just as the NSE Industrial Goods Index went down by 6.59 percent.
It would be recalled that since the beginning of the year the Equities market has been on the upbeat which has resulted in the NASI having a sustained seven straight weeks gains. The market capitalisation added N2.165 trillion pegging at N12.766 trillion as against its 2008 peak level of N12.640 trillion.
The total market volume stood at 3.725 billion units of shares valued at N75.874 billion exchanged by investors in 39,060 deals at the close of trading last week in comparism with a total of 1.917 billion units of shares worth N25.133 billion exchanged in 32,368 transactions the previous week.
Transactions in the shares of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, IAS Plc and Dangote Cement Plc accounted for 1.35 billion shares valued at N48.72 billion traded in 1,692 deals contributing 36.19 per cent, 64.22 per cent and 4.33 per cent to the overall equity turnover volume, value and deals respectively.
On sectorial basis, during the review week the financial service sector lead the activity chart recording a traded volume of 1.702 billion units of shares valued at N14.698 billion in 19,826 transactions representing 45.68 per cent, 19.37 per cent and 50.76 per cent of the total traded volume, value and deals respectively.
It was followed by the conglomerates sector with a turnover of 597.153 million units of shares worth N1.052 billion exchanged in 1,410 deals indicating 16.03 percent, 1.39 percent and 3.61 per cent of the total equity turnover volume, value and deals respectively during the week.
The ICT sector emerged third on the week’s activity chart recording a turnover volume of 516.087 million units of shares traded at N1.007 billion in 264 transactions.
The week under review opened with 34 stocks recording price appreciation on Monday while 22 Stocks recorded some level of price erosion even as the price of 56 remained flat.
On second trading day of the review week out of 127 stocks that were traded, 50 recorded value addition while the price of 17 nose dived and 60 remained unchanged.
The third day saw 122 stocks taking part in the market transactions, from which 32 appreciated in value, 36 plunged while 44 remained flat.
On the fourth trading day, 126 stocks partook in the trading activities, just a as a handful of 15 stocks managed to rise in value while 57 stocks eroded in value and 54 remained flat.
A total of 120 stocks were transacted on the last trading day of the week with only 22 recording gains; 66 were flat in price while 32 shed their value.
In all 34 equities added value during the week under review down from the 58 that appreciated the previous week.
Berger Paints Plc led the top 10 gainers’ table with N1.92 price addition having opened at N9.46 to close at N11.38 per share.
The Forte Oil Plc emerged second on the week’s top 10 price gainers’ table with N1.61 price addition to finish at N17.01 from an opening price of N15.40 per share.
Academy Press Plc came third having added 70 kobo to its opening price of N1.75 to close the week at N2.45 per share.
Also on the week’s top 10 gainers’ chart were Paints and Coatings Manufacturers Plc 45 kobo, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc 40 kobo, Vitaform Nigeria Plc 61 kobo, IPWA Plc 8 kobo , Cutix Plc 25 kobo, Evans medical Plc 31kobo and Champion Breweries Plc 48 kobo.
On the flipside, Nigerian Breweries Plc led the top 10 stocks that finished in the red during the week with N20.49 price depreciation having opened at N178 per share to close at N157.51.
PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc emerged the week’s second highest loser having plunged by N7.98 from an opening price of N52.98 to close at N45 per share.
The third on the losers’ chart was Guaranty Trust Bank Plc which lost N3.29 to drop at N24.91 from an opening price of N28.20 per share.
Others were Portland Paints & Products Nigeria Plc which lost 82 kobo, Eterna Plc 66 kobo, Oando Plc N2.32, Ikeja Hotel Plc 12 kobo, Livestock Feeds Plc 69 kobo, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc 15 kobo and Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc 19 kobo.
The week saw 1,770 units of federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bond being traded at the value of N194,830 in 15 deals as against 1,100 units worth N123,765 recorded in 7 transactions the previous week.
A breakdown shows that 1,270 units of 15.10 per cent FGN April 2017 bond were traded in 11 deals at N136,595 while 400 units of 16,00 percent FGN June 2019 bond were exchanged in three transactions at the value of N45,485. Hundred units of 16.39 per cent FGN January 2022 bond were sold at N12,750 in one trade.
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Banking/ Finance
Ripple Survey Reveals Appetite for Digital Assets
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.
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