The Nigerian stock market ended August on a mildly positive note, posting a 0.31% gain despite late selloffs in some heavyweight stocks.
Tracked by the All-Share Index, the market opened at 139,863.5 points and gained over 5,000 in the first two weeks, climbing past 146,000 on the back of July’s strong momentum.
That early rally, however, gave way to weaker sentiment in the third week as oil and gas majors and some mid-cap stocks slipped, setting the stage for deeper losses.
By the fourth week, losses in big cement and other large caps dragged the index down over 3,500 points. With a further 708 points lost in the final week, much of August’s early gains were erased.
Despite the market’s muted close, several penny and mid-cap stocks, mainly in the insurance sector and a few from other industries, posted strong gains.
Although their performance could not fully offset the declines caused by select heavyweights, they still delivered impressive returns for investors who held them.
Here are August’s top performers.
Coronation Insurance Plc secures the 7th spot with a 56.71% gain in August. Starting at N2.31, it climbed to a mid-month high of N4.47 before pulling back as the sector cooled.
By August 21st, it had pulled back to N2.96, but late-month buying helped it recover, closing at N3.62.
- Financially, Coronation Insurance had a strong first half of 2025, reporting insurance revenue of N32.9 billion, up sharply from N21.3 billion in the prior year.
- Premiums rose to N26 billion from N18.8 billion, while gross claims surged to N5.4 billion, compared to N2.2 billion last year.
With much of the gains coming in August, the stock now stands at a year-to-date return of 60.9%.
