Dulux paint stock went up 60% in five days

Let's set the stage before diving in. This week may not grab headlines, but it quietly boosted many wallets. The naira remained steady, the index inched upward, and companies that actually disbursed dividends lined their pockets with cash. Banks continued to thrive, the guys who own Dulux paint decided to paint the market green, and aviation handlers treated shareholders to both generous payouts and bonus shares.

Pour yourself something cold, this one's good.

The naira had a surprisingly strong week against all four currencies we monitor: the dollar, pound, euro, and yuan. While there wasn't anything dramatic to report, this consistent strength is significant. It may not make headlines, but it is important when you want to make international payments and for effective financial planning.

The dollar closed Friday at ₦1,364 on the official window, down from ₦1,374 the prior Friday, a gain of about ₦11. The weighted average rate (the rate that actually reflects what most deals were done at across the week) painted the same picture: ₦1,361 versus ₦1,374 the previous week.

Sterling moved in the same direction. The pound finished at ₦1,852.99, down from ₦1,857.56, a ₦4.57 drop. The euro told a similar story: ₦1,602.05 versus ₦1,607.00. Even the yuan softened to ₦200.11 from ₦201.32.

None of these blow-the-roof-off numbers, but together they form a picture: this was a week where the naira held its ground against everything thrown at it.

Reserves, meanwhile, barely moved. External reserves stood at $48.326 billion as of May 7, down very slightly from $48.364 billion the previous Friday, a drop of roughly $38 million, or 0.08%. Liquid reserves (the portion the CBN can actually tap quickly) sit at $47.6 billion, also essentially unchanged.

What this means in plain terms: the central bank isn't bleeding dollars to defend the naira (at least for this week), and the naira is holding up on its own. Two good signs in one week.

Okay, this is where the week gets fun.

The All-Share Index added another 1.03% this week to close at 244,775.83, with total market capitalisation reaching ₦157.094 trillion. That's a fresh peak, again this year. But more telling than the headline number is what was happening underneath.

Sixty-nine stocks went up. Thirty-six went down. The previous week was almost a coin flip — 52 up, 53 down. This week, the breadth of the rally widened sharply. When more stocks are participating in a move, it usually tells you the momentum is more than just one or two giants pulling the index up.

Trading activity caught up to the mood. Investors moved 7.075 billion shares worth ₦324.351 billion across 474,436 deals — a noticeable jump from the 4.842 billion shares (₦287.756 billion) of the prior week. Financial Services led activity by volume (60% of all shares traded), followed by ICT and Investment.

The Week's Big Winners 🚀

The Week's Losers 📉

The CAP PLC story is genuinely fun. The paint company behind Dulux, Sandtex, and Caplux climbed from ₦145.20 to ₦233.70 in five trading days. Why? They dropped Q1 2026 results on April 28, showing profit after tax up 38% to ₦1.58 billion and revenue up 15% to ₦11.59 billion. The market spent the next week processing those numbers and decided they liked them. A lot. Earnings beats translate to price moves, which is exactly what's supposed to happen in a healthy market, though rarely this dramatically.

Zichis Agro keeps doing things. The agribusiness — palm oil, poultry, fish farming, animal feed — gained another 53% to ₦33.36, and shareholders just approved a ₦50 billion capital raise. Inside that approval is something specifically interesting for retail folks: they got the green light to issue up to ₦5 billion in Commercial Paper. If they go through with it, that becomes another way retail investors like us can lend to a fast-growing company and earn interest. We'll keep an eye out and let you know when it lists.

And then there's Airtel Africa. The company posted its full year 2026 results on Friday morning, showing Nigerian revenue up 52.92% to $1.59 billion, with revenue per subscriber up 41.18% — Nigeria is now Airtel's second-largest market by per-customer revenue, anywhere on the continent. The stock added 10% on the final day of the week, climbing from ₦3,021 to ₦3,323. Good companies that report good numbers? Their stocks tend to follow. This was that.

On the losing side, the story is mostly less dramatic than it looks. NAHCO's −20.95% needs an asterisk: the aviation handler went ex-dividend on May 4 (₦6.25 cash + a 1-for-7 bonus share issue), which mechanically pulls the price down even before any selling happens. MTN Nigeria's −12.45% coincided with its dividend payment week (₦15 final dividend, which hit accounts on May 5) — also a typical post-payment dip.

Guinness's −18.99% is the most interesting: the brewer's CEO held a Tuesday earnings call walking through their turnaround story (PAT of ₦41.2 billion versus prior losses), but the stock had already rallied roughly six-fold into the print. This is the textbook "buy the rumour, sell the news" — when expectations get built up, the actual good news becomes the moment people lock in their gains.

The stock market is divided into "sectors" — think of them as teams. When you examine how each team performed this week, the overall story becomes clear. 

The sector picture this week mostly continues the pattern: most things up, a few things flat, one quietly loud underperformer. Here's where the money actually went.

🏗️ Industrial Goods +5.11%

The week's runaway sector. Dangote Cement climbed ₦118 to close at ₦1,088. CAP Plc had its 60% week. BUA Cement and Berger Paints both posted solid gains. When the cement and paint people are this happy together, somebody somewhere is building things.

🛡️ Insurance +4.01%

The insurance index has been quietly recovering from a tough start to the year — it's still only up 3.76% YTD, the laggard of the bunch — but this week showed signs of life. AIICO, Cornerstone, Sovereign Trust, and Mutual Benefits all moved up. The ongoing recapitalisation drive across the industry is forcing capital into stronger hands, and the market may finally be pricing that in.

🏦 Banking +1.89%

Steady as ever. GTCO added ₦9 to ₦144, Fidelity added ₦1.55, and Ecobank picked up ₦7.40. The exception was Access Holdings, down 12.59% as it went through its own ex-dividend adjustment. Year-to-date, the banking index is still up 53% — these are the stocks that have done most of the heavy lifting in 2026.

🛒 Consumer Goods +1.81%

A two-faced week. Dangote Sugar rocketed 33% on its way back to ₦93. Vitafoam, Nestlé, Cadbury, Unilever, Nigerian Breweries — all up. But Guinness shed 19% post-earnings, and PZ Cussons dropped 8% to ₦97. The winners outweighed the losers, and the index stayed green.

📊 NGX 30 +0.65%

The 30 biggest names by market cap moved up modestly. The story here is consistency — this index is up 56.56% year-to-date, which means if you'd bought the 30 most boring, established companies on the exchange in January, you'd be sitting on big gains right now without ever picking a stock.

☪️ Lotus Islamic +0.82%

The Shariah-compliant index inched up — and importantly, the Lotus Halal Equity ETF (which tracks similar names) had its strongest week of the year, jumping 15.74% on price. Year-to-date, the Lotus II index is up 95.66%, near doubling. Faith-aligned investing has been quietly excellent in 2026.

🛢️ Oil & Gas −3.27%

The week's only meaningful drag. Aradel slipped ₦144 to ₦1,880, and Seplat moved sideways at ₦11,600. Globally, crude prices have been soft, and that filters through to local oil names. Year-to-date, though, the Oil & Gas index is still up 120.87% — by far the best-performing sector of 2026.

Quick refresher before we go in. A bond is basically a loan you give to a company or the government. They take your money for a set number of years, pay you interest along the way (the "coupon"), and give you your principal back at the end. An ETP (exchange-traded product) is like a basket — you buy one unit of it and you're holding a small slice of many things at once. Both trade on the NGX, just like regular stocks.

This was a slow week for bond trading. Only 30 deals went through, moving 119,721 units worth ₦122.18 million — slightly down from last week's ₦156.88 million. Not unusual; bond markets in Nigeria typically move quietly between primary issuances.

But the listings calendar more than made up for the quiet trading floor.

Total ETP turnover hit ₦1.107 billion across 7.586 million units — almost double the ₦640 million traded last week. The breakout star was the Lotus Halal Equity ETF (LOTUSHAL15), whose price jumped from ₦120.10 to ₦139.00 — a 15.74% climb in a single week. That's a huge move for an ETF, which, by design, is meant to track a basket of stocks rather than react to individual news.

Other notable players: STANBICETF30 moved ₦203 million in value, SIAMLETF40 did ₦144 million, and VETGRIF30 did ₦150 million. How do you buy these? Just like buying a stock through a broker, you can buy on the NGX using the ticker symbols above.

Each one represents a basket of underlying stocks: VETGRIF30 tracks the 30 most liquid companies, LOTUSHAL15 tracks Shariah-compliant names, STANBICETF30 tracks similar territory to the NGX 30, and SIAMLETF40 holds 40 names spanning multiple sectors. One trade, instant diversification.

Check out our ranking of the top-performing Funds and Funds managers in Nigeria as of April 24^th 2026.

Got a friend or cousin who keeps asking, "So what's happening with the stock market?" — forward this to them. One person you have in mind right now. Send it to that one.

Until next Saturday

Stay patient. Stay diversified. Stay learning — The NairaNote Team ✌️

Data sourced from: Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), SEC Nigeria, Debt Management Office (DMO), and verified financial news outlets. This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Always do your own research or consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.