The Nigerian equities market advanced further on January 8, 2026, as the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 0.13% to close at 160,806.6 points.
Trading activity slowed during the session, with total volume declining to 645 million shares from 1.4 billion shares recorded the previous day, reflecting more cautious participation by investors.
Market capitalization mirrored the positive price movement, rising to N102.8 trillion across 44,410 deals, from N102.6 trillion in the prior session.
Healthcare stocks were favored by investors, with Neimeth, May & Baker, and Mecure appearing among the day’s top gainers.
The modest uptick pushed the market’s year-to-date return to 3.34%, confirming the persistence of the ongoing bullish trend despite weaker volumes.
On the gainers’ chart, Neimeth and May & Baker led with advances of 10.00% and 9.85% respectively, while Intenegins and ABC Transport recorded the steepest losses, declining 9.90% and 9.88%.
Activity-wise, CHAMS topped the volume table with 60.4 million shares traded, followed by Linkage Assurance at 54.1 million shares and Tantalizers at 44.9 million shares.
On the value front, Zenith Bank dominated transactions worth N1.5 billion, ahead of Seplat at N1.2 billion and Unilever at N1.1 billion.
Among SWOOT stocks, sentiment was broadly positive, with International Breweries rising 2.37%, Nigerian Breweries gaining 1.27%, and Lafarge advancing 0.68%.
For the FUGAZ names, Zenith Bank and GTCO closed flat, while First HoldCo fell 2.08%, Access Holdings declined 1.31%, and UBA eased 0.91%.
The market’s continued rise was supported by renewed buying interest in select healthcare stocks.
At the same time, the sharp drop in trading volume suggests more cautious investor positioning, with signs of selective profit-taking emerging after the recent rally.
Staying above the 160,000-point level keeps the market outlook positive, with the 161,000 mark now the next target. Continued buying could support further gains.
However, if buying interest slows, the market may see short-term pullbacks, as the index is still in overbought territory.