EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market maintained its winning streak in today’s session underpinned by investors’ demand for SEPLAT (+10.0%). Precisely, the NGX ASI inched higher by 0.4% to close at 98,987.42 points. Accordingly, the MTD and YTD gains advanced to +2.5% and +32.4%, respectively.
The total volume traded declined by 20.9% to 603.30 million units, valued at NGN12.58 billion, and exchanged in 9,723 deals. FIDELITYBK remained the most traded stock by volume at 121.73 million units, while FBNH was the most traded stock by value at NGN3.46 billion.
From a sectoral standpoint, the Oil & Gas (+3.3%) and Consumer Goods (+0.5%) indices gained, while the Banking (-0.7%) and Insurance (-0.4%) indices closed in the red. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.3x), as 30 tickers gained relative to 24 losers. FLOURMILL (+10.0%) and SEPLAT (+10.0%) topped the gainers’ list, while MULTIVERSE (-9.9%) and CAVERTON (-9.9%) recorded the highest losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.5% to NGN1,667.42/USD at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 7bps to 21.0%, following debits for this month’s FGN bond PMA (NGN264.53 billion).
Trading in the Treasury bills secondary market was bearish, as the average yield expanded by 108bps to 21.8%. Across the curve, the average yield advanced at the short (+137bps), mid (+94bps), and long (+99bps) segments due to sell pressures on the 78DTM (+491bps), 134DTM (+180bps) and 211DTM (+165bps) bills, respectively. Conversely, the average yield dipped by 2bps to 23.6% in the OMO segment.
Sentiments in the FGN bond secondary market were bearish, as the average yield expanded by 3bps to 18.6%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield closed flat at the short and long ends but expanded at the mid (+13bps) segment due to profit-taking activities on the FEB-2031 (+138bps) bond.
