EQUITIES
Profit-taking activities resurfaced in the Nigerian equities market, with ETI (-9.9%), GTCO (-1.7%) and UBA (-2.6%) weighing down the bourse by 0.2% to 104,187.00 points. Thus, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -1.4% and +1.2%, respectively.
The total volume traded declined by 18.2% to 376.62 million units, valued at NGN11.89 billion, and exchanged in 11,576 deals. GTCO was the most traded stock by volume and value at 62.88 million units and NGN4.10 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was mixed as the Banking (-1.6%) and Consumer Goods (-0.2%) indices declined, while the Insurance (+2.7%) and Oil & Gas (+0.5%) indices advanced. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.3x), as 31 tickers gained relative to 23 losers. HMCALL (-10.0%) and LEARNAFRCA (-10.0%) led the losers, while LIVESTOCK (+10.0%) and VFDGROUP (+10.0%) posted the highest gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate depreciated by 1.9% to NGN1,645.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 2bps to 27.0% in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
Trading in the Treasury bills secondary market was quiet with a bullish undertone, as the average yield contracted by 1bp to 21.2%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-1bp), mid (-1bp) and long (-1bp) segments due to demand for the 92DTM (-1bp), 169DTM (-1bp) and 344DTM (-2bps) bills, respectively. Conversely, the average yield expanded by 4bps to 29.4% in the OMO segment.
The FGN bond secondary market traded on a bearish note as the average yield expanded by 6bps to 18.6%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+5bps) and mid (+17bps) segments, driven by sell pressures on the JUL-2030 (+20bps) and JUN-2033 (+53bps) bonds, respectively, but remained unchanged at the long end.
