EQUITIES
Bearish sentiments resurfaced in the local bourse, as losses in MTNN (-2.2%) and WAPCO (-4.8%) dragged the All-Share Index lower by 0.6% to 196,066.11 points. As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +2.3% and +26.7%, respectively.
The total volume traded decreased by 2.1% to 746.85 million units, valued at NGN27.85 billion, and exchanged in 65,275 deals. ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume at 80.26 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN3.29 billion.
Sectoral performance was negative, as the Industrial Goods (-0.7%), Banking (-0.5%), Consumer Goods (-0.3%) and Oil & Gas (-0.3%) indices closed lower, while the Insurance index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.8x), as 41 tickers lost relative to 32 gainers. NASCON (-10.0%) and MBENEFIT (-10.0%) led the losers, while PREMPAINTS (+10.0%) and SUNUASSUR (+10.0%) posted the most significant gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 0.7% to NGN1,397.57/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 12bps to 22.2% following inflows from OMO maturities (NGN1.69 trillion).
Activities in the Treasury bills secondary market were bullish, as the average yield contracted by 2bps to 17.6%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-1bp) and long (-3bps) segments, due to the demand for the 86DTM (-1bp),163DTM (-1bp) and 345DTM (-16bps) bills, respectively. Likewise, the average yield contracted by 1bp to 21.2% in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, the FGN bond secondary market traded on a quiet note as the average yield remained unchanged at 15.6%.
