What happened:
Since the 28 September close of 252,566.84, the index has slipped 0.9%, and about ₦1.46 trillion has come off the value of listed shares. One of those weekdays, 1 October, was a public holiday.
Tuesday's session was quieter than usual:
34 stocks fell and 26 rose.
Volume dropped 33.8% to 579.2 million shares, and the number of deals fell 23.8% to 40,979.
Banks did the most damage. The banking index fell 1.25%, while insurance stocks rose 0.53%.
Smaller than it sounds:
A ₦256 billion loss makes a strong headline, but the market is now so large that it is only 0.16% of its value.
The All-Share Index is up about 61% this year, from 155,613 at the end of 2025, and sits less than 1% below its 52-week high of 252,635.11. Last year it gained 51%, its best year since 2007. After two years like that, a run of small down days looks more like investors pausing than anything breaking.
The Dangote effect:
There is also a lot of money heading somewhere else. The Dangote refinery IPO is raising about ₦2.15 trillion and closes on 13 October. When the offer opened in September, market reports tied part of that month's selling to investors raising cash to apply.
Then comes the listing. At its ₦525 offer price, the refinery would be worth about ₦65.2 trillion, roughly 40% of the current value of the whole exchange. Fund managers who track the index will have to make room for it, and the rest of the market will feel that.
What's next:
13 October: the Dangote offer closes, and the cash tied up in applications becomes clearer.
Late October: third-quarter results season. Bank earnings will decide whether the sector's slide continues.
Late November: Dangote shares are expected to start trading, which will reshape the index.
What it means for your portfolio:
If you own Nigerian stocks, directly or through a pension or mutual fund, a 0.9% dip after a 61% run barely changes your year.
The more important question is what you own. The heaviest selling this week was in bank stocks, which many Nigerian investors hold for their dividends. And from late November, the index you measure yourself against will contain one very large refinery. Even if you never bought a Dangote share, it will increasingly shape the numbers you see.SUBSCRIBE
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