THUR SEPT 17 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s equities market extended its recent advance on Wednesday, with the benchmark index edging higher as buying interest in selected large-cap stocks kept sentiment positive.
The naira also strengthened marginally against the dollar, while rising external reserves provided a further sign of improving external liquidity.
The NGX All-Share Index gained 0.20% to 244,791.79 points, lifting its year-to-date return to 57.31%, from 56.99% a session earlier.
Market capitalisation rose by the same margin to N158.71 trillion.
The advance was relatively broad-based, with 37 stocks gaining against 30 decliners, producing a market-breadth ratio of 1.23x.
Insurance, consumer and exchange-related counters led the upside: Sovereign Trust Insurance rose 9.69%, Nigerian Breweries gained 5.20% and NGX Group added 4.47%.
These gains more than offset declines in IMG (-9.93%), John Holt (-9.88%) and Fidson Healthcare (-9.19%).
Trading activity strengthened, suggesting that the positive tone was accompanied by greater participation.
Volume rose 27.1% to 662.4 million shares, although turnover increased only marginally, by 0.5% to N37.45 billion.
Sterling Financial Holdings accounted for the largest volume, with 142.0 million shares changing hands, while GTCO led turnover at N5.27 billion.
The performance contrasted with the NASD OTC market, where the NASD Security Index fell 1.15% to 4,503.11 points and market capitalisation declined to N2.70 trillion.
In the foreign-exchange market, the official naira rate strengthened by 2 basis points to N1,330.13/$, extending the currency’s recent stability.
External reserves also rose 0.22% to $54.61 billion as at 14 September, pointing to a gradual improvement in the country’s foreign-exchange buffer.
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