THUR JAN 15 2026-theGBJournal| Nigerian stocks advanced on Wednesday, with the benchmark All-Share Index inching up by 0.6% to 166,771.95 points, as investors shifts focus on upcoming inflation reports.
Buying interest in SEPLAT (+8.6%), ARADEL (+5.5%), TRANSCORP (+3.1%), and ZENITHBANK (+1.5%) consequently drove the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed +7.2%. Market capitalisation also increased by N598.41 billion to N106.78 trillion.
The total volume traded declined by 32.6% to 761.94 billion units, valued at N29.85 billion, and exchanged in 55,751 deals.
ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume at 53.41 million units, while ARADEL was the most traded stock by value at N8.99 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed as the Oil & Gas (+6.3%), Insurance (+0.8%), and Banking (+0.1%) indices advanced while the Consumer Goods (-0.2%) index declined. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.8x), 47 tickers gained relative to 26 losers. ACADEMY (+10.0%) and NCR (+10.0%) posted the most significant gains of the day, while MAYBAKER (-9.8%) and WAPIC (-6.8%) led the laggards.
The NASD OTC Market closed Wednesday’s session on a largely flat note, with both the NASD Securities Index (NSI) and total market capitalisation inching up marginally by 0.003% to settle at 3,678.25 points and N2.20 trillion, respectively.
Market activity weakened during the session, as trading volume and value declined by 60.31% and 71.62%, respectively, reflecting reduced turnover.
On the performance board, SDNIPCOPLC (+9.08%) led the market advancers, while SDFOODCPT (-10.13%) emerged as the sole decliner for the day.
The official FX rate appreciated by 0.3% to N1,418.66/US$1.
At the fixed income market, profit-taking activities and demand were seen in treasury bills and FGN Bond segment as yields closed mixed.
Market capitalization consequently closed flat at N51.55 trillion
The NTB secondary market traded with bearish sentiments, as the average yield expanded by 17bps to 17.8%.
Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+1bp), mid (+27bps) and long (+21bps) segments, due to profit-taking activities on the 85DTM (+12bps), 141DTM (+70bps) and 232DTM (+43bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield expanded by 93bps to 22.5% in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, the FGN bond secondary market traded on a quiet note, albeit with a bullish undertone, as the average yield contracted by 1bp to 16.8%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-3bps) end, driven by demand for the FEB-2031 (-9bps) bond, but remained unchanged at the mid and long segments.
The overnight lending rate expanded by 1bp to 22.7% in the absence of significant inflows into the system.
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