EQUITIES
The bulls returned to the domestic bourse after 4 consecutive trading losses, with the NGX ASI advancing by 1.4% to 195,514.00 pts. This was underpinned by an uptick in DANGCEM (+4.0%), MTNN (+3.0%), TRANSCORP (+6.6%), and WAPCO (+3.8%), resulting in a MTD and YTD print of 1.4% and 25.6%, respectively.
Meanwhile, the total trading volume pared by 4.1% to 789.85 million units, valued at NGN35.08 billion, and exchanged in 84,259 deals. JAPAULGOLD was the most traded stock by volume at 54.72 million units, while ARADEL was the most traded stock by value at NGN6.09 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was largely bullish, with the Oil & Gas (+4.7%), Industrial Goods (+2.5%), Consumer Goods (+0.4%), and Banking (+0.3%) indices advancing. The Insurance (-1.5%) index was the sole loser of the day.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x), as 31 tickers lost relative to 29 gainers. CUSTODIAN (-10.0%) and MCNICHOLS (-9.9%) led the laggards, while NGXGROUP (+10.0%) and ARADEL (+10.0%) posted the strongest gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 0.5% to NGN1,362.44/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate increased by 18bps to 22.4%.
The Treasury Bills secondary market was bullish, as the average yield declined by 2bps to 16.6%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-2bps), mid (-2bps) and long (-3bps) segments, driven by demand for the 17DTM (-3bps), 143DTM (-3ps), and 339DTM (-3bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield declined by 3bps to 21.2% in the OMO segment.
Meanwhile, the FGN bond secondary market traded in a lull, with the average yield unchanged at 15.4%.
