EQUITIES
The domestic bourse kicked off the week on a bearish note as profit-taking activities in WAPCO (-4.7%) caused a 0.1% decline in the All-Share Index to 98,107.52 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at 0.6% and +31.2%, respectively.
The total volume of trades declined by 58.1% to 436.04 million units, valued at NGN12.86 billion, and exchanged in 9,489 deals. FCMB was the most traded stock by volume at 61.65 million units, while ARADEL was the most traded stock by value at NGN3.53 billion.
On sectors, the Insurance (-1.2%), Industrial Goods (-0.5%), and Banking (-0.1%) indices recorded losses, while the Oil & Gas (+0.4%) index closed higher. The Consumer Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.5x), as 35 tickers lost relative to 18 gainers. NSLTECH (-10.0%) and GUINEAINS (-8.9%) topped the losers’ list, while GOLDBREW (+10.0%) and NGXGROUP (+10.0%) recorded the most significant gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira appreciated by 2.4% to NGN1,540.78/USD in the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 383bps to 32.0% in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
The Treasury bills secondary market traded with bullish sentiments as the average yield contracted by 3bps to 25.7%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+7bps) end following selloffs of the 87DTM (+67bps) bill, while it declined at the mid (-5bps) and long (-6bps) segments driven by demand for the 136DTM (-6bps) and 346DTM (-6bps) bills, respectively. Elsewhere, the average yield contracted by 6bps to 27.3% in the OMO segment.
Proceedings in the FGN bond secondary were quiet, as the average yield closed flat at 19.1%.
