Nigeria’s stock market has become the world’s best-performing equity market in dollar terms in 2026, overtaking South Korea’s Kospi, as gains in the naira and strong corporate earnings drive one of Africa’s strongest rallies this year.
The NGX All-Share Index eased slightly on Tuesday to close at 241,749.11 points, down 0.84% on the day, with market capitalization at 155.13 trillion naira. The index has still posted a year-to-date return of about 55%, and, according to Bloomberg’s ranking of 92 global exchanges, has delivered a 67% return in dollar terms so far this year, helped by a roughly 4% appreciation of the naira against the dollar since January.
The market’s rise this year has not been a straight line. After hitting a record high of 252,508 points in May, the index fell more than 23,200 points during a correction that ran from late May through early July, driven by profit-taking across industrial, banking, consumer goods and insurance stocks. It has since staged a sharp recovery, rising 6.35% in the week ending July 10 alone — one of its strongest weekly rebounds this year — before easing again this week.
Analysts attribute the rally to a mix of factors: improving macroeconomic conditions, ongoing economic reforms, firmer global oil prices, and improved foreign exchange liquidity. Gains have been broad-based, spanning banking, oil and gas, telecom and industrial stocks, with companies including Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement and MTN Nigeria among the notable movers this year. Analysts caution that foreign and diaspora investors should weigh naira-denominated returns against currency and repatriation risk when comparing Nigeria’s performance with other markets, even as the underlying rally continues to draw global attention heading into second-quarter earnings season.
