EQUITIES
The Nigerian stock market extended its bearish run as sell pressures on ZENITHBANK (-3.2%) and UBA (-4.4%) outweighed bargain hunting in MTNN (+1.8%). Consequently, the All-Share Index declined by 0.1% to close at 97,343.42 points. Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed -0.9% and +30.2%, respectively.
The total volume of trades increased by 16.0% to 355.55 million units, valued at NGN7.14 billion, and exchanged in 7,333 deals. GTCO was the most traded stock by volume and value at 71.87 million units and NGN3.04 billion, respectively.
Analysing by sectors, the Banking (-1.7%), Insurance (-0.4%) and Consumer Goods (-0.2%) indices settled lower, while the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices stayed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.4x), as 29 tickers lost relative to 13 gainers. FTNCOCOA (-10.0%) and PZ (-10.0%) topped the losers’ list, while CUSTODIAN (+9.6%) and INTENEGINS (+9.3%) while recorded the highest gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira appreciated by 4.2% to NGN1,459.02/USD at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 125bps to 31.8%, following debits for the May 2024 FGN bond auction (NGN682.07 billion).
Trading in the T-bills secondary market closed on a bullish note, as the average yield declined by 2bps to 22.4%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-1bp) and long (-8bp) ends driven by interests in the 22DTM (-2bps) and 302DTM (-51bps) bills, respectively. Conversely, the average yield advanced at the mid (+10bps) segment as players took profits off the 162DTM (+33bps) bill. Likewise, the average yield contracted by 1bp to 20.1% in the OMO segment.
Sentiments in the FGN bond secondary market was mixed, as the average yield remained at 18.5%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded marginally at the short (+1bp) and long (+3bps) following sell pressures on the MAR-2025 (+2bps) and APR-2049 (+19bps) bonds, respectively. Elsewhere, the average yield declined at the mid (-9bps) segment as participants demanded the FEB-2031 (-21bps) bond.
