EQUITIES
Profit-taking activities continued in the local bourse as losses in ZENITHBANK (-3.1%) and UBA (-2.5%) drove the All-Share Index down by 0.1% to 144,986.51 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled lower at -5.9% and +40.9%, respectively.
The total volume of trade increased by 1.8% to 381.23 million units, valued at NGN16.72 billion, and exchanged in 21,827 deals. TANTALIZER was the most traded stock by volume at 58.78 million units, while ARADEL was the most traded stock by value at NGN9.50 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed as the Banking (-0.9%) index declined, while the Insurance (+0.1%) index advanced. The Industrial Goods, Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was neutral (1.0x), as 27 tickers gained relative to 27 losers. LIVINGTRUST (-9.9%) and MCNICHOLS (-9.0%) led the laggards, while NCR (+10.0%) and UPL (+9.8%) posted the most significant gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate depreciated by 0.6% to NGN1,451.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 24bps to 25.1%, despite inflows from OMO maturities (NGN1.36 trillion).
The NTB secondary market traded on a quiet note as the average yield pared by 1bp to 16.4%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-1bp), and (-1bp) segments, driven by the demand for the 79DTM (-1bp), 170DTM (-1bp) and 352DTM (-1bp) bills, respectively. Conversely, the average yield expanded by 6bps to 21.8% in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, the FGN bond secondary market traded in a lull, as the average yield remained unchanged at 15.4%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+1bp) end, following the selloff of the FEB-2031 (+2bps) bond. The average yield remained unchanged at the mid and long segments.
