EQUITIES
Bullish momentum persisted in the domestic equities market, as buying interest in BUAFOODS (+6.5%), ARADEL (+4.9%) and FIRSTHOLDCO (+4.5%), lifted the All-Share Index by 1.0% to 151,456.91 points. As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled higher at +6.1% and +47.2%, respectively.
The total volume of trades rose by 35.0% to 551.92 million units, valued at NGN20.54 billion, and exchanged in 27,518 deals. FIDELITYBK was the most traded stock by volume at 59.12 million units, while GTCO was the most traded stock by value at NGN2.92 billion.
Sectoral performance was positive as the Consumer Goods (+3.5%), Oil & Gas (+2.0%), Insurance (+0.4%), Banking (+0.2%) and Industrial Goods (+0.2%) indices posted gains.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x), as 26 tickers gained relative to 30 losers. SCOA (+7.7%) and OMATEK (+7.5%) led the gainers, while LIVINGTRUST (-9.9%) and CONOIL (-5.8%) led the laggards.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate depreciated by 3bps to NGN1,465.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 49bps to 25.4% in the absence of any significant funding pressures on the system.
The T-bills secondary market traded on a quiet note, albeit with a bullish undertone, as the average yield contracted by 1bp to 16.7%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-1bp), and long (-1bp) segments, due to demand for the 79DTM (-1bp), 156DTM (-1bp) and 352DTM (-1bp) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield contracted by 1bp to 21.6% in the OMO segment.
Trading activity in the Treasury bond secondary market was bullish, as the average yield declined by 3bps to 15.8%.
Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-9bps) segment, due to the demand for the APR-2029 (-51bps) bond, but expanded at the mid (+1bp) segment, driven by profit-taking activities on the JUN-2033 (+3bps) bond. The average yield remained unchanged at the mid segment.
