Oil & Gas Index Emerges as NGX’s Best-Performing Sector Last Week

The NGX Oil & Gas Index emerged as the best-performing sector on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) during the week ended August 28, 2026, outperforming every other major sector benchmark as investors increased exposure to energy-related stocks.

According to the NGX Weekly Report, the Oil & Gas Index advanced 4.54 percent, the strongest weekly gain among all sectoral indices and well ahead of the NGX All-Share Index (ASI), which appreciated 0.81 percent during the same period.

The sector’s performance highlights renewed investor interest in energy stocks despite a market that remained highly selective throughout the holiday-shortened trading week.

While the broader market ended the week in positive territory, gains were concentrated in a limited number of sectors rather than spread evenly across the Exchange.

The Oil & Gas Index stood out by delivering the strongest sector return, outperforming other key benchmarks including the NGX Banking Index, which gained 2.89 percent, the NGX Premium Index, up 2.29 percent, and the NGX Consumer Goods Index, which declined 0.67 percent.

Several other sectoral indices also finished the week in negative territory.

The NGX Insurance Index fell 0.63 percent, the NGX MERI Growth Index declined 2.21 percent, the NGX Growth Index lost 1.56 percent, while the NGX Lotus II Index slipped 0.22 percent.

The divergence in sector performance illustrates that investor appetite remained concentrated in specific areas of the market rather than reflecting broad-based buying across listed equities.

Although the Oil & Gas Index recorded the strongest sector performance, trading activity across the Exchange continued to be dominated by financial stocks.

The Financial Services Industry accounted for 1.977 billion shares valued at N71.563 billion, representing 78.87 percent of total equity turnover by volume and 58.08 percent by value.

This indicates that while financial services remained the market’s principal source of liquidity, energy stocks delivered the strongest price appreciation among sector indices.

Overall, investors traded 2.507 billion shares worth N123.223 billion in 173,561 deals during the four trading sessions, compared with 6.242 billion shares valued at N157.764 billion in the previous week.

Despite the decline in overall trading activity, the market maintained its positive momentum as the NGX All-Share Index closed at 241,298.47 points, while equity market capitalisation appreciated to N155.826 trillion.

The strong performance of the Oil & Gas Index demonstrates that investor interest extended beyond banking stocks during the week, with energy equities emerging as the market’s leading sector in terms of price performance.

The week’s trading also reinforces the increasingly selective nature of the Nigerian equity market, where capital continues to flow into sectors and companies perceived to offer stronger return potential, even as overall market participation moderates.