EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market extended its bullish run for the fourth consecutive session, buoyed by buying interest in banking stocks, including GTCO (+3.9%), ETI (+9.9%), and ZENITHBANK (+2.1%). Consequently, the All-Share Index rose by 0.5% to 108,849.83 points, bringing the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns to +3.0% and +5.8%, respectively.
The total volume traded increased by 23.6% to 587.47 million units, valued at NGN18.66 billion, and exchanged in 17,496 deals. GTCO was the most traded stock by volume and value at 98.64 million units and NGN6.57 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Banking (+2.1%), Consumer Goods (+2.1%), and Industrial Goods (+0.2%) indices advanced, while the Insurance (-0.2%) and Oil & Gas (-0.2%) indices declined.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (3.0x), as 48 tickers gained relative to 16 losers. MEYER (+10.0%) and UPDCREIT (+10.0%) led the gainers, while DEADCAP (-10.0%) and VERITASKAP (-9.1%) posted the most significant losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate depreciated by 0.4% to NGN1,615.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 22bps to 27.0% in the absence of any significant inflows into the system.
Proceedings in the NTB secondary market were bullish, as the average yield contracted by 2bps to 20.9%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-1bp) and long (-3bps) segments, driven by the demand for the 92DTM (-1bp), 169DTM (-1bp) and 288DTM (-18bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield declined by 11bps to 26.8% in the OMO segment.
Meanwhile, the Treasury bond secondary market traded on a bearish note, as the average yield expanded by 2bps to 18.7%.
Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+1bp), mid (+2bps) and long (+2bps) segments, driven by sell pressures on the JUL-2030 (+6bps), FEB-2031 (+9bps) and APR-2037 (+15bps) bonds, respectively.
