EQUITIES
Bearish sentiment persisted in the domestic equities market, as sell pressures on TRANSCORPP (-2.2%), WAPCO (-1.8%), ARADEL (-2.3%) and GTCO (-1.5%) drove the All-Share Index lower by 0.4% to 153,676.66 points. As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +7.7% and +49.3%, respectively.
The total volume of trades increased by 75.7% to 795.86 million units, valued at NGN35.11 billion, and exchanged in 28,944 deals. WEMABANK was the most traded stock by volume at 305.74 million units, while GEREGU was the most traded stock by value at NGN8.77 billion.
Sectoral performance was mostly negative, with declines in the Insurance (-1.3%), Consumer Goods (-1.2%), Oil & Gas (-0.3%), and Industrial Goods (-0.3%) indices, while the Banking (+0.1%) index closed slightly higher.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.5x), as 39 tickers lost relative to 20 gainers. CADBURY (-10.0%) and CHAMS (-10.0%) led the laggards, while OANDO (+10.0%) and ASOSAVINGS (+9.3%) recorded the highest gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 1.0% to NGN1,431.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate remained unchanged at 24.84%.
The NTB secondary market traded with bearish sentiment, as the average yield expanded by 4bps to 17.4%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp) and mid (-1bps) segments, driven by the demand for the 84DTM (-1bp) and 175DTM (-1bp) bills, respectively, but it expanded at the long (+9bps) end due to the sell-off of the 322DTM (+89bps) bill. Similarly, the average yield expanded by 11bps to 22.1% in the OMO segment.
Activities in the Treasury bond secondary market was also bearish, as the average yield expanded by 1bp to 15.8%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-5bps) end, driven by buying interest in the JUL-2030 (-19bps) bond, but expanded at the mid (+12bps) segment due to profit taking on the JUN-2033 (+42bps) bond. The average yield remained unchanged at the long end.
