EQUITIES
Positive sentiments persisted in the Nigerian equities market today, with WAPCO (+10.0%), MTNN (+1.2%) and GTCO (+1.2%) lifting the bourse. Consequently, the ASI ended the session 0.2% higher at 97,972.33 points. Thus, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at +0.3% and +31.0%, respectively.
The total volume traded declined by 19.2% to 333.94 million units, valued at NGN6.42 billion, and exchanged in 9,021 deals. ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume and value at 37.84 million units and NGN910.19 million, respectively.
Sectoral performance was positive as the Insurance (+1.9%), Industrial Goods (+0.6%), Oil & Gas (+0.4%), Banking (+0.3%) and Consumer Goods (+0.3%) indices all inched higher.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.5x), as 34 tickers gained relative to 22 losers. WAPCO (+10.0%) and UNILEVER (+10.0%) led the gainers, while PZ (-9.8%) and BERGER (-7.7%) posted the highest losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira appreciated by 0.7% to NGN1,678.93/USD in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 10bps to 25.8% in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
Trading in the Treasury bills secondary market was bullish, as the average yield contracted by 2bps to 24.1%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-1bp), mid (-2bps) and long (-2bps) segments due to demand for the 79DTM (-2bp), 170DTM (-2bps) and 338DTM (-2bps) bills, respectively. Conversely, the average yield expanded by 79bps to 27.1% in the OMO segment.
Activities in the FGN bond secondary market were quiet as the average yield closed flat at 19.2%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+1bp) end due to profit-taking activities on the MAR-2025 (+3bps) bond but remained unchanged at the mid and long segments.
