By Eshioromeh Sebastian
Nigeria has pulled off a stunning global upset, overtaking South Korea to become the world’s best-performing stock market in dollar terms this year.
According to data compiled by Bloomberg across 92 global exchanges, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) has delivered a staggering 67% return in dollar terms year-to-date, narrowly edging past South Korea’s Kospi index at 66%.
The Asian tech powerhouse has been dragged down by a sharp pullback in artificial intelligence-linked stocks. The Kospi officially entered a technical bear market after crashing 22% from its June peak, as investors grew uneasy about whether AI demand could be sustained.
Currency pressures added to the pain — the South Korean won has shed 5% of its value against the dollar this year, further eating into foreign investor returns.
Nigeria’s surge tells a very different story. The rally has been powered by a combination of macroeconomic reforms, firmer oil prices, and improved foreign exchange liquidity. The naira has strengthened by roughly 4% against the dollar since January, giving international investors an extra boost on top of equity gains.
Financial services stocks have led the charge, with Fortis Global Insurance Plc delivering an eye-popping 1,400% return in dollar terms this year . Meanwhile, Nigeria’s limited exposure to the tech sector has actually worked in its favour — shielding the market from the global AI selloff that hammered South Korea.
The rally reached another milestone on July 8, when the NGX All-Share Index surged 2.27% to 242,459.98 points, adding N3.45 trillion to investors’ wealth in a single session . Airtel Africa sparked the charge, hitting a record N5,801.40 after its shares rose by the maximum daily limit of 10% .
The market’s year-to-date return climbed to 55.81%, recovering sharply from the 46.78% low recorded just a day earlier.
Adding to the optimism, S&P Dow Jones Indices has placed Nigeria on its 2027 watchlist for a possible upgrade from a “Standalone” to a “Frontier” market . Such a reclassification would boost Nigeria’s visibility among international institutional investors and potentially unlock fresh capital inflows from funds tracking frontier-market benchmarks .
The upgrade consideration reflects Nigeria’s market reforms aimed at improving transparency, enforcement, and overall market integrity . Analysts, however, caution that consistent policy implementation will be critical to securing the upgrade
For a market that was valued at just $68.8 billion in 2025, Nigeria’s rise to global prominence is remarkable . The country recently overtook Morocco to become Africa’s second-largest stock market, trailing only South Africa .
But the rally signals renewed confidence in Nigeria’s economic direction. As trader Damilola Okeleye of Stonex Nigeria noted, ongoing reforms and the prospect of a future listing by Dangote Petroleum Refinery have been “a strong driving force to the gains seen year to date”.
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