Kayode Tokede
The market capitalisation of Dangote Cement Plc and five others that joined the FTSE Frontier 50 Index recently, increased to N60.97 trillion just last week amid high demand by investors across the globe.
The other five Nigerian companies that joined the 50-stock benchmark effective September 18, 2026 are: Aradel Holding Plc, FirstHoldCo Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, and Zenith Bank Plc.
As of September 18, 2026, the market capitalisation of these six companies stood at N60.44 trillion, about 0.88 per cent Week- on-Week (WoW) increase when compared to N60.97 trillion as of September 25, 2026.
In the first trading week of joining the FTSE Frontier 50 Index, the stock price of MTN Nigeria Communications recorded the highest decline of about 3.03 per cent to close at N863 per share. This brings its market capitalisation to N18.12 trillion as of September 25, 2025 from N18.12 trillion September 18, 2026.
This was followed by First Holdco that dipped by 2.13 per cent to N156.6 per share. The decline of 2.13 per cent brings the market capitalisation of First Holdco to N7.12 trillion from N7.28 trillion.
In addition, market capitalisation of Aradel Holdings depreciated to N6.65trillion from N6.73trillion following a 1.29 per cent drop in stock price of N1,530.00 per share/
However, GTCO as of close of trading activities last week gained 5.38 per cent to bring its market capitalisation to N5.54 trillion from N4. 75 trillion.
Zenith Bank advanced to N5.54 trillion as of September 25, 2025 from N5.27 trillion amid 5.06 per cent increase in stock market from N128.40 per share to N134.90 per share as of September 25, 2026.
Dangote Cement’’s market capitalisation increased by 1.59 per cent to N1,066.70 per share to drive its market capitalisation to N17.99 trillion as against N17.72 trillion the stock market opened for trading.
THISDAY had reported that a total of 10 Nigerian large-cap companies had qualified for FTSE Russell’s broad frontier benchmark and only six made the Frontier 50 index. The likes of Nestlé Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Presco Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc were left out, despite being large enough for the wider list.
The additions of six listed companies to FTSE Russell’s Frontier 50 Index followed Nigeria’s broad country reclassification from “Unclassified” back to “Frontier Market” status, supported by the foreign exchange market reforms and foreign exchange backlog clearance implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The FTSE Frontier 50 Index is created from an eligible universe of 26 frontier market. The index tracks the performance of the 50 most liquid stocks from the eligible universe of 26 Frontier markets.
A September 2026 paper by Ernest Biktimirov and Pyemo Afego published in the International Review of Economics and Finance, concluded that, “Stock prices in frontier markets tend to rise persistently after index inclusion and fall after exclusion due to institutional investor demand rather than temporary trading pressure or liquidity changes.”
Out of 13 total global inclusions into the FTSE Frontier 50 Index, Nigeria captured six slots (46.1per cent of all new additions), underscoring the immediate appetite for large-cap Nigerian liquidity across banking, telecom, industrial, and upstream energy sectors.
The Index-tracking exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and institutional passive funds benchmarks tied to the FTSE Frontier 50 are required to purchase shares in the incoming constituents prior to the September 21 effective date, providing immediate liquidity support for the affected equities.
FTSE Russell announced two separate things about Nigeria within days of each other, and the difference between them.
The first was the FTSE Frontier Index Series, the broad benchmark covering large, medium and small companies across every eligible frontier market. A total of 31 Nigerian companies were included in that, of which 10 were classified as large-cap: Aradel Holdings, Dangote Cement, FirstHoldCo, GTCO, MTN Nigeria, Nestlé Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries, Presco, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Zenith Bank.
The second is the FTSE Frontier 50, which takes only the 50 most heavily traded stocks from the entire frontier universe.
FTSE Russell sorts the world’s stock markets into four tiers: developed, advanced emerging, secondary emerging and frontier. Frontier covers the smallest and least liquid markets still open to foreign investors, and Nigeria sits there alongside 25 other countries.
The Frontier 50 is the highest recognition available to a Nigerian listed company. South African, Egyptian and Moroccan companies sit in the higher emerging market indices, which draw from a considerably larger pool of institutional money.
Nigeria was removed from frontier market status in September 2023, after continuing delays left international institutional investors unable to repatriate capital or execute foreign exchange transactions.