EQUITIES
The bulls continued to dominate the domestic bourse as gains in MTNN (+1.9%), DANGSUGAR (+4.7%), and NB (+3.6%) spurred a 0.3% increase in the All-Share Index to 111,902.61 points. Thus, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns inched higher to +5.8% and +8.7%, respectively.
The total volume traded increased by 25.1% to 512.17 million units, valued at NGN 17.12 billion, and exchanged in 16,711 deals. JAPAULGOLD was the most traded stock by volume at 58.90 million units, while MTNN was the most traded stock by value at NGN4.86 billion.
On sectors, the Consumer Goods (+1.0%), Insurance (+0.5%), Oil & Gas (+0.2%) and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices advanced while the Banking (-0.1%) index declined.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.4x), as 39 tickers gained relative to 28 losers. LEARNAFRCA (+10.0%) and UPL (+10.0%) led the gainers, while ACADEMY (-10.0%) and ABBEYBDS (-10.0%) recorded the most significant losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate depreciated by 0.6% to NGN1,585.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 3bps to 26.9% in the absence of any significant inflows into the system.
The NTB secondary market traded on a bullish note, as the average yield contracted by 3bps to 20.7%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-6bps) and long (-2bps) segments, driven by demand for 85DTM (-1bp), 120DTM (-45bps) and 344DTM (-12bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield contracted by 13bps to 26.0% in the OMO segment.
Activities in the FGN bond secondary market remained calm, with the average yield unchanged at 18.6%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the long (-1bp) end, driven by buying interest in the MAR-2050 (-5bps) bond. The average yield closed flat at the short and mid segments.
