EQUITIES
Bargain-hunting activities continued today in the Nigerian equities market, with NESTLE (+6.4%), ZENITHBANK (+2.8%), and GTCO (+1.9%) lifting the bourse. Consequently, the All-Share Index ended the session 0.3% higher at 203,161.81 points with the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settling at +0.6% and +30.6%, respectively.
The total volume traded fell by 35.2% to 652.86 million units, valued at NGN39.82 billion, and exchanged in 51,101 deals. ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume at 121.71 million units, while GTCO was the most traded stock by value at NGN8.10 billion.
Sectoral performance was broadly positive as the Banking (+1.1%), Insurance (+0.7%), Consumer Goods (+0.4%), Oil and Gas (+0.4%), and Industrial Goods (+0.2%) indices advanced.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was neutral (1.0x), as 28 tickers gained relative to 29 losers. TRANSEXPR (+9.9%) and INTENEGINS (+9.8%) led the gainers, while LIVINGTRUST (-10.0%) and RTBRISCOE (-9.9%) recorded the highest losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 0.3% to NGN1,363.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate remained unchanged at 22.3% as system liquidity fell to NGN6.62 trillion following an NTB PMA debit of NGN731.38 billion.
The NTB secondary market traded on a bullish note as the average yield contracted by 14bps to 17.4%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-31bps) and long (-12bps) segments, driven by demand for the 79DTM (-1bp), 163DTM (-43bp) and 184DTM (-56bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield pared by 1bp to 20.3% in the OMO segment.
The FGN bond secondary market traded in a lull with a bearish undertone as the average yield expanded by 1bp to 15.6%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+3bps) end due to the profit-taking in the FEB-2031 (+13bps) bond, while the average yield remained unchanged at the mid and long segments.
