WED SEPT 02 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s equities market extended its positive momentum, with broad-based buying across major sectors lifting the benchmark All-Share Index by 0.8% to 246,082.63 points on Tuesday, as investors increased exposure to oil and gas, insurance, banking and consumer stocks.
The rally was led by gains in ARADEL (+8.8%), HBMNG (+4.5%), NESTLE (+5.8%) and FIRSTHOLDCO (+1.2%), helping push the market’s Month-to-Date return to +0.8% and Year-to-Date gain to +58.1%.
Market capitalisation increased by 0.77% to ₦158.96 trillion.
Trading activity also strengthened. Total volume traded rose 7.4% to 651.32 million units, with transactions worth ₦40.77 billion executed across 43,760 deals.
ACCESSCORP was the most actively traded stock by volume, with 129.89 million units changing hands, while MTNN led trading by value at ₦4.69 billion.
The sectoral picture was particularly constructive, with all five tracked sectors advancing.
Oil & Gas was the strongest performer, rising 3.9%, followed by Insurance at 3.3%. Banking and Consumer Goods each gained 0.9%, while Industrial Goods increased 0.7%.
Market breadth provided further evidence of positive sentiment.
Forty stocks advanced against 19 decliners, producing a positive breadth ratio of 2.1x.
FTNCOCOA (+10.0%) and MCNICHOLS (+10.0%) were the strongest gainers, while TRIPPLEG (-9.7%) and ABCTRANS (-9.5%) recorded the steepest declines.
The breadth of the advance reduces the appearance of a narrowly driven index rally, although investors will continue to watch whether participation remains sufficiently broad to support further gains.
NASD market gains despite weaker volumes
The NASD OTC market also closed higher, with the NASD Security Index (NSI) advancing 2.07% to 4,395.94 points.
Market capitalisation increased by the same 2.07% to ₦2.64 trillion, while the market’s YTD return improved to 24.05%, from 21.53% in the previous session.
The gains came despite mixed trading activity.
Traded volume fell sharply by 55.02% to 526,020 units, while transaction value rose 7.04% to ₦55.64 million.
Twenty-three trades were executed, representing a 20.69% decline from the previous session.
SD11PLC was the leading gainer, rising 8.91%, while SDFOODCPT, down 0.40%, was the session’s sole decliner.
Naira weakens as external reserves reach 18-year high
In the currency market, the official foreign-exchange rate depreciated by 0.3% to ₦1,329.30 per US dollar.
The modest currency weakening came against a stronger external-reserves position.
Nigeria’s gross external reserves increased 0.91% week-on-week to US$53.31 billion as of 27 August 2026, from US$52.83bn a week earlier.
The reserves level is the highest in 18 years, since 2009, supported by sustained crude oil receipts and improved autonomous inflows.
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