THUR NOV 12 2026-theGBJournal| The Nigerian naira strengthened against the British pound and euro on Wednesday, despite weakening against the US dollar, while equities on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) ended the trading session in negative territory.
The naira appreciated by 0.28% against sterling and 0.21% against the euro in the official foreign exchange market, with the pound quoted at N1,807.02 and the euro at N1,510.58.
However, the local currency depreciated by 0.4% against the US dollar to N1,357.34, reflecting mixed performance across major currency pairs.
Similarly, Nigeria’s external reserves declined by 0.13% to $55.06 billion as of 6 November 2026, reflecting continued foreign exchange outflows amid the CBN’s efforts to support dollar liquidity in the domestic market.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) reported sale of $950 million to authorised dealer banks during the preceding week contributed to these outflows, while external debt-service payments and other international obligations may also have weighed on reserves.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s equity market closed lower, with the NGX All-Share Index declining 0.2% to 251,870.45 points, weighed down by losses in FirstHoldCo (-3.7%), Okomu Oil (-10.0%), NASCON (-9.0%) and UBA (-2.4%).
The decline reduced the market’s month-to-date return to -1.0%, while the year-to-date gain moderated to 61.9%. Market capitalisation fell 0.18% to N163.53 trillion.
Trading activity weakened, with total volume declining 24.3% to 413.05 million shares, valued at N22.62 billion across 30,732 deals. Honeywell Flour Mills led trading by volume with 75.96 million shares, while GTCO topped transactions by value at N4.57 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed. Banking stocks declined 0.6%, insurance fell 0.3% and consumer goods lost 0.2%, while industrial goods and oil and gas indices closed flat.
Market breadth remained negative, with 29 stocks declining against 22 gainers. Okomu Oil and Enamelwa led the losers, shedding 10.0% each, while UPL gained 10.0% and Caverton advanced 9.0%.
In the NASD Over-the-Counter market, the NASD Securities Index advanced 0.79% to 4,341.81 points, lifting market capitalisation 0.77% to N2.59 trillion.
The market’s year-to-date return increased to 22.91% from 21.56%.
Trading activity strengthened considerably, with volume surging 2,868.39% to 15.08 million units. Transaction value increased 79.17% to N62.28 million, while the number of deals rose 43.33% to 43.
SDIGIPLC and SDRSOURCE led the gainers, advancing 10.0% each, while SDNASDPLC declined 10.0% and SDUBNPROP shed 9.65%, leading the losers.
X-@theGBJournal|email:gbj@govbusinessjournal.com|govandbusinessj@gmail.com
