EQUITIES
The domestic bourse closed on a positive note, primarily driven by gains in banking tickers such as ZENITHBANK (+8.4%), UBA (+6.9%), GTCO (+3.2%), and STANBIC (+4.8%). Consequently, the All-Share Index advanced by 1.1% to close at 146,981.17 points, with the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settling at -5.7% and +41.3%, respectively.
The total volume of trades declined by 25.6% to 599.71 million units, valued at NGN22.70 billion, and exchanged in 23,675.00 deals. WEMABANK was the most traded stock by volume at 98.43 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN2.63 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Insurance (+4.6%), Banking (+3.8%), Consumer Goods (+1.7%), and Oil & Gas (+0.7%) indices advanced, while the Industrial Goods (-0.1%) index closed lower.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (6.1x), as 55 tickers gained relative to 9 losers. CUSTODIAN (+10.0%) and LINKASSURE (+10.0%) posted the most significant gains of the day, while AUSTINLAZ (-10.0%) and UNIONDICON (-9.7%) led the losers.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate remained unchanged at NGN1445.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate remained unchanged at 24.9%.
The NTB secondary market traded on a bullish note, as the average yield contracted by 3bps to 17.0%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-4bps) and long (-3bps) segments, driven by the demand for the 84DTM (-1bp), 161DTM (-23bps) and 343DTM (-39bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield contracted by 16bps to 21.6% in the OMO segment.
Proceedings in the FGN bond secondary market was bullish, as the average yield contracted by 3bps to 15.6%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-2bps) and mid (-9bps) segments, driven by buying interest in the MAR-2027 (-9bps) and APR-2032 (-38bps) bonds, respectively, but closed flat at the long end.
