The Oil & Gas Index emerged as the Nigerian Exchange’s (NGX) best-performing major sector last week, delivering positive returns despite a broad-based market selloff that pushed the benchmark index lower and erased nearly N2 trillion in market value.
According to the NGX weekly report, the NGX Oil & Gas Index advanced 2.83 percent during the week, making it one of only a handful of sectoral indices to close in positive territory.
Its performance stood in sharp contrast to the NGX All-Share Index (ASI), which declined 1.60 percent, as widespread profit-taking weighed on equities across most sectors.
Weekly Index Performance
| Index | Weekly Change |
|---|---|
| NGX Oil & Gas | +2.83% |
| NGX Commodity | +2.19% |
| NGX MERI Value | +0.79% |
| NGX AFR Dividend Yield | +0.71% |
| NGX Sovereign Bond | +0.14% |
| NGX All-Share Index | -1.60% |
| NGX Banking | -4.07% |
| NGX Insurance | -5.52% |
The Oil & Gas sector outperformed every major equity index during the week, even as selling pressure intensified elsewhere in the market.
Among the sector’s standout performers was Seplat Energy Plc, whose share price gained 10.00 percent during the week to rank among the Exchange’s top-performing equities.
The stock’s strong performance provided significant support for the Oil & Gas Index and helped distinguish the sector from the broader market trend.
By contrast, several key sectors ended the week with notable losses.
The NGX Insurance Index recorded the steepest decline, shedding 5.52 percent, followed by the NGX Banking Index, which fell 4.07 percent.
The Industrial Goods Index declined 3.36 percent, while the Consumer Goods Index lost 2.55 percent, reflecting widespread weakness across the market.
The broader market also struggled with deteriorating investor sentiment.
The NGX All-Share Index closed the week at 243,052.74 points, down from 246,992.44 the previous week, while equity market capitalisation fell from approximately N159.559 trillion to N157.587 trillion. Market breadth weakened significantly, with only nine stocks posting gains against 80 decliners.
Despite the broad selloff, the Oil & Gas sector demonstrated notable resilience. Its positive weekly return, supported by gains in heavyweight energy stocks such as Seplat Energy, suggests investors continued to favour the sector even as profit-taking dominated most other segments of the Nigerian equity market.
