EQUITIES
Bullish sentiments persisted in the local bourse today as gains in MTNN (+4.6%), FIDELITYBK (+4.7%) and ZENITHBANK (+0.6%) drove the All-Share Index higher by 0.5% to 145,719.09 points. Sequentially, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +2.1% and +41.6%, respectively.
The total volume of trades increased by 3.6% to 525.73 million units, valued at NGN13.61 billion, and exchanged in 25,597 deals. FIRSTHOLDCO was the most traded stock by volume at 36.54 million units, while GTCO was the most traded stock by value at NGN1.80 billion.
On sectors, the Oil & Gas (+0.6%) and Banking (+0.1%) indices advanced while the Insurance (-0.8%) index declined. The Industrial Goods and Consumer Goods indices closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x), as 28 tickers gained relative to 32 losers. FTNCOCOA (+8.9%) and LIVESTOCK (+7.4%) led the gainers, while IMG (-10.0%) and LIVINGTRUST (-9.9%) posted the most significant losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 0.4% to NGN1,469.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 2bps to 24.9%, 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 10bps to 17.7%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-1bp) and long (-21bps) segments, driven by the buying interests for the 92DTM (-1bp), 162DTM (-1bp) and 316DTM (-173bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield contracted by 8bps to 20.4% in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, the FGN bond secondary market traded with bullish sentiments as the average yield contracted by 3bps to 16.0%.
Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the mid (-9bps) and long (-3bp) segments, driven by the demand for the APR-2032 (-37bps) and JUN-2053 (-5bps) bonds, respectively. The average yield remained unchanged at the short end.
