₦13.3 trillion wiped out in worst month ever

A stock market crash erased ₦13.3 trillion in June, wiping out gains from a five-month rally in Nigeria's worst monthly loss.

The Nigerian stock market just recorded its worst monthly loss in history. Investors wiped ₦13.29 trillion off listed equities in June 2026. That is more than the entire market was worth during the COVID-19 crash of March 2020.

The All-Share Index fell 8.28% during the month, its biggest monthly drop since President Bola Tinubu took office. Year-to-date gains narrowed from over 60% at the end of May to 47.43%.

To understand the scale: the market entered June at ₦160.5 trillion after a five-month rally that had added roughly ₦60 trillion in value. By month-end, market capitalisation had fallen to ₦147.2 trillion. In percentage terms, June’s 8.28% decline is not the worst; March 2020 fell more than 18%. But in value terms, it is unprecedented. The previous record was ₦6.5 trillion in November 2025. June more than doubled it.

The selloff was broad-based. All 20 NGX indices tracked finished the month lower, many with double-digit declines. Premium Board stocks, including UBA, Access Holdings, First HoldCo, Zenith Bank, MTN Nigeria, Seplat, Lafarge Africa and Dangote Cement, bore the brunt of the correction.

This was not a rotation into defensive sectors. It was a stampede for the exit.

The rally that preceded June was extraordinary. April had delivered a 20.36% monthly return, the best since May 2009. Warning signs emerged in May, when market breadth weakened despite a modest 3.24% gain. Those cracks widened into a chasm in June.

The winners of the five-month rally are now the losers of the one-month crash. Foreign portfolio investors, who rode the wave in, are leading the charge out. Retail investors who bought at the peak are holding the bag. The question is whether this is a correction or a reversal.

Bottom Line: The market giveth and the market taketh away. In June, it taketh ₦13.29 trillion.