The stock of the oldest commercial bank in Nigeria just had one of its most contradictory weeks on record.
First Holdco Plc dropped 17.31% between October 26 and October 30, falling from ₦144.10 to ₦119.15 per share.
Yet rather than fading from the ticker, the stock anchored itself at the top of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) trading charts.
That paradox tells a bigger story about who is really moving money across Africa’s second-largest equity market right now.
First Holdco led three stocks that controlled 80% of NGX volume
First Holdco, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), and United Bank for Africa (UBA) together accounted for 6.096 billion of the 7.619 billion shares that changed hands during the week ended October 30, the NGX weekly market report showed.
That trio controlled 80.02% of total volume and 85.36% of the ₦637.8 billion in total turnover value for the period.
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First Holdco’s 17.31% weekly decline arrived while the broader All-Share Index (ASI) climbed 2.86% to close at 254,299.49 points.
The divergence suggests concentrated selling pressure on the stock was large enough to generate enormous volume but not enough to drag the entire market lower, partly thanks to a 27.81% surge in Dangote Cement.
The weekly turnover figure of ₦637.8 billion represented a roughly 476% jump from the ₦110.8 billion recorded the prior week.
Financial services stocks alone accounted for 91.75% of the week’s volume and 89.91% of its value, the exchange data confirmed.
First Holdco’s October slide followed months of sustained selling
The week’s decline did not appear in isolation. First Holdco’s share price had already fallen roughly 20.6% from its all-time high of ₦165, reached earlier in October, to about ₦131, MarketForces Africa reported.
Stock market analysts cited by the outlet said the next catalyst for a re-rating would be “the Q3 earnings harvest,” and that “its size and quality will drive the next price action.”
First Holdco is the holding company of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, the country’s oldest commercial lender. The group reported profit after tax of ₦526.13 billion for the first half of 2026, an 81.6% year-over-year increase, BusinessDay reported.
Chairman Femi Otedola’s stake in the group stood at 20.40% as of June 30, up from 18.12% at the end of March, filings showed.
The board declared a closed period starting October 1, ahead of nine-month unaudited financial statements, which restricted insider trading activity, MarketForces Africa noted.
In an August 2025 equity note, analysts at Cordros Securities Limited revised First Holdco’s 2025 earnings per share estimate downward by nearly 20% and lowered its target price, citing deteriorating asset quality and elevated impairment charges, MarketForces Africa reported.
The NGX Banking Index fell 3.42% for the week and is now down 10.42% month-to-date, the steepest sectoral decline on the exchange.
Banking stocks have underperformed the wider market for most of 2026 even as the ASI has climbed 63.42% year-to-date, the NGX weekly report showed.
Dangote Cement and industrial stocks filled the gap banking left behind
While banking names dragged the sectoral index lower, Dangote Cement delivered a 27.81% weekly gain, pushing its share price from ₦1,111 to ₦1,420.
The rally carried the NGX Industrial Goods Index up 14.58% for the week and 16.85% month-to-date, making it the strongest-performing sector on the exchange in October.
Dangote Cement’s market capitalization crossed the ₦20 trillion mark during the week, making it the second most capitalized stock on the exchange, ThisDay reported.
Capital market analysts cited by the newspaper said surge demand from investors in the ongoing Dangote Petroleum Refinery Initial Public Offering (IPO) spilt over into Dangote Cement shares on the NGX.
The overall market registered 33 advancing stocks against 48 declining ones, with 65 unchanged. Other blue-chip names including Aradel Holdings also faced heavy selling earlier in the month.
The fact that more stocks fell than rose yet the ASI gained 2.86% underscores how heavily the week’s performance depended on a handful of large-cap names rather than broad-based buying across the exchange.
Key data from the NGX week ended October 30
- ASI close: 254,299.49 points, up 2.86% weekly and 63.42% year-to-date (NGX weekly report)
- Market capitalization: ₦165.114 trillion (NGX weekly report)
- Weekly turnover: 7.619 billion shares worth ₦637.8 billion (NGX weekly report)
- Top gainer: Dangote Cement, up 27.81% to ₦1,420 (NGX weekly report)
- Biggest decliner: Caverton Offshore, down 25% (NGX weekly report)
- Banking index: down 3.42% weekly, 10.42% month-to-date (NGX weekly report)
What the First Holdco paradox signals for NGX investors
First Holdco’s week illustrates a structural feature of the NGX that is easy to overlook: a small number of financial services stocks can drive the vast majority of exchange activity even when those same stocks are losing value.
The 91.75% share of volume that financial services commanded means the headline turnover surge was overwhelmingly a banking-sector story, compounded by the CBN’s struggle to stabilize the naira.
Those watching First Holdco specifically will want to monitor the release of the group’s nine-month unaudited results, which stock market analysts described as the key trigger for any fresh re-rating, MarketForces Africa reported.
Whether the earnings report confirms a recovery or deepens concerns about asset quality will likely determine whether heavy trading in First Holdco shifts from net selling to net accumulation in the sessions ahead.
