THUR MAR 12 2026-theGBJournal| The Nigerian equities market sustained its upward momentum as the benchmark All-Share Index advanced by 0.5% to 196,908.76 points, driven by renewed buying interest in key blue-chip stocks.
As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled higher at +2.1% and +26.5%, respectively, while market capitalisation advanced by 0.52% to close at N126.40 trillion.
The positive sentiment was largely driven by gains in TRANSCOHOT (+7.01%), BUACEMENT (+5.23%), and FIDSON (+9.97%), which more than offset mild profit-taking in a few counters such as ETERNA (-10.00%), STANBIC (-2.96%), and CADBURY (-4.29%).
The total volume of trades declined by 18.1% to 549.78 million units, valued at N44.74 billion, and exchanged in 55,465 deals.
ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume at 28.12 million units, while DANGCEM was the most traded stock by value at N20.67 billion.
Gains in the market were largely supported by strong performances in the Industrial Goods (+1.9%) and Consumer Goods (+0.3%) indices advanced, while the Insurance (-0.7%), Banking (-0.5%) and Oil & Gas (-0.3%) indices declined.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was neutral (1.0x), as 30 tickers gained relative to 29 losers. FTNCOCOA (+10.0%) and FIDSON (+10.0%) led the gainers, while ETERNA (-10.0%) and OMATEK (-10.0%) posted the most significant losses of the day.
The NASD market closed today’s session on a bearish note, as the NASD Security Index (NSI) declined by 0.56% to settle at 4,210.30 points, while market capitalisation also dipped by 0.56% to close at N2.52 trillion.
Despite the negative performance, market activity improved significantly compared to the previous session, with trading volume and value surging by 185.81% and 197.40%, respectively.
SDIPWAPLC (+8.98%) emerged as the top gainer, while SDFSTTRUSTMB (-8.57%) recorded the steepest decline during the session.
Meanwhile, the naira extended its appreciation against the US dollar in the foreign exchange market, rising by 1.2% to N1,368.00/US$, supported by improved FX liquidity and sustained interventions aimed at stabilising the currency.
The strengthening local currency added to the broader positive sentiment across financial markets.
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