EQUITIES
The bears resurfaced in the domestic equities market as profit-taking activities in OKOMUOIL (-6.9%), NESTLE (-2.3%), and ARADEL (-5.6%) triggered a 0.3% decrease in the All-Share Index to 98,291.53 points. As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -0.3% and +31.5%, respectively.
The total volume of trades declined by 7.4% to 257.55 million units, valued at NGN8.99 billion, and exchanged in 7,776 deals. FIDELITYBK was the most traded stock by volume at 38.21 million units, while ARADEL was the most traded stock by value at NGN3.15 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Consumer Goods (+0.5%) and Insurance (+0.4%) indices inched higher, while the Industrial Goods, Banking and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was mixed (1.0x), as 23 tickers gained relative to 22 losers. DEAPCAP (+10.0%) and UACN (+9.9%) recorded the most significant gains of the day, while CUSTODIAN (-9.0%) and OKOMUOIL (-6.9%) led the losers.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 4bps to NGN1,659.69/USD in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 22bps to 32.9% in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
The Nigerian treasury bills secondary market traded on a calm note but with a bearish undertone as the average yield expanded marginally by 1bp to 23.6%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-1bp) and long (-2bps) ends, driven by demand for the 22DTM (-2bps) and 330DTM (-2bps) bills, respectively, but expanded at the mid (+10bps) segment due to the sell-off of the 162DTM (+77bps) bill. Elsewhere, the average yield dipped by 2bps to 25.8% in the OMO segment.
Trading in the Treasury bond secondary market closed on a bearish note, as the average yield increased by 6bps to 19.0%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+2bps) and mid (+20bps) segments following profit-taking activities on the APR-2029 (+12bps) and FEB-2031 (+57bps) bonds, respectively, while it remained flat at the long end.
