EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market closed higher in today’s session, as buying interest in TRANSCOHOT (+9.8%), FIRSTHOLDCO (+5.4%), and UBA (+6.6%) drove the All-Share Index up by 0.1% to 153,539.83 points. Sequentially, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at +7.0% and +49.2%, respectively.
The total volume traded increased by 157.9% to 1.75 billion units, valued at NGN30.05 billion, and exchanged in 19,372 deals. ABBEYBDS was the most traded stock by volume and value at 1.12 billion units and NGN7.07 billion, respectively.
Analysing by sectors, the Banking (+1.7%), Consumer Goods (+1.5%), and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices advanced, while the Insurance (-1.5%) index declined. The Oil & Gas index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.6x), as 35 tickers gained, while 22 tickers lost. GUINNESS (+10.0%) and AUSTINLAZ (+10.0%) led the gainers, while LEGENDINT (-9.3%) and MANSARD (-7.1%) recorded the most significant losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 1.3% to NGN1,430.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 7bps to 22.8% in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
The NTB secondary market traded with bearish sentiments as the average yield expanded by 8bps to 17.8%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+5bps), mid (+7bps) and long (+11bps) segments, due to profit-taking activities on the 43DTM (+41bps), 169DTM (+64bps) and 330DTM (+24bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield expanded by 22bps to 21.1% in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, the FGN bond secondary market traded with bullish sentiments, as the average yield contracted by 3bps to 16.5%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-5bps) and long (-2bps) segments, driven by the demand for the FEB-2031 (-7bps), JUL-2034 (-31bps) and APR-2049 (-20bps) bonds, respectively.
