EQUITIES
The local bourse closed lower in today’s trading session as sell pressures in ACCESSSCORP (-2.2%) and ZENITHBANK (-1.0%) caused a 4bps decline in the benchmark index to 108,568.50 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at 3.9% and +5.5%, respectively.
The total trading volume increased by 22.6% to 421.26 million units, valued at NGN8.42 billion, and exchanged in 13,269 deals. ELLAHLAKES was the most traded stock by volume at 136.68 million units, while GTCO was the most traded stock by value at NGN1.31 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was mixed as the Oil & Gas (-1.0%) and Banking (-0.7%) indices declined, while the Consumer Goods (+0.7%) and Insurance (+0.1%) indices advanced. The Industrial Goods index remained unchanged.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.2x), as 29 tickers gained relative to 24 losers. ABBEYBDS (+10.0%) and UPL (+9.8%) led the gainers, while UNIONDICON (-9.8%) and DEADCAP (-7.1%) recorded the highest losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 1.0% to NGN1,494.03/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate declined by 17bps to 32.7% despite net NTB issuances (NGN77.41 billion).
The Treasury bills secondary market traded with bullish sentiments as the average yield declined by 175bps to 20.2%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-173bps), mid (-146bps), and long (-187bps) segments, driven by demand for the 14DTM (-306bps), 168DTM (-205bps), and 259DTM (-378bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield declined by 2bps to 25.5% in the OMO segment.
The FGN bond secondary market was bullish as the average yield declined by 15bps to 19.6%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield decreased at the long (-31bps) end, driven by interest in the JAN-2042 (-90bps) bond, while it closed flat at the short and mid segments.
