THUR JAN 08 2026-theGBJournal| Nigerian stocks closed in positive territory on Wednesday as investors confidence held firm amid encouraging economic data.
The benchmark All-Share Index edged higher by 0.4% to 160,591.76 points as SEPLAT (+10.0%), OKOMUOIL (+10.0%), and WAPCO (+3.0%) gained.
The Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns both settled at +3.2%, while market capitalisation rose by N409.66 billion to N102.68 trillion.
The total volume of trades advanced by 87.4% to 1.42 billion units, valued at N20.30 billion, and exchanged in 48,789 deals.
UNIVINSURE was the most traded stock by volume at 804.11 million units while SEPLAT was the most traded stock by value at N3.50 billion.
Sectoral performance was broadly positive, as the Oil & Gas (+3.9%), Insurance (+1.1%), Industrial Goods (+0.5%), and Consumer Goods (+0.5%) indices advanced, while the Banking (-0.1%) index declined.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x), as 33 tickers gained relative to 38 losers. UNIONDICON (+10.0%) and OKOMUOIL (+10.0%) topped the gainers, while CADBURY (-10.0%) and AUSTINLAZ (-9.9%) recorded the most significant losses of the day.
The NASD OTC Market also extended its positive performance, as the NASD Securities Index (NSI) and market capitalisation advanced by 1.08% to close at 3,653.04 points and N2.19trn, respectively.
Market activity strengthened notably, with trading volume increasing by 39.04% and transaction value rising by 29.50%, reflecting improved participation across the market.
On the performance board, SDCSCSPLC (+8.07%) led the advancers, while no stocks recorded a decline during the session.
Meanwhile, the naira official FX rate closed stronger by 0.8% to N1,418.07 against the dollar, just as the greenback traded flat versus the yen and euro elsewhere amid release of U.S. labor market data.
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