EQUITIES
The domestic stock market continued its descent as investors sold off NESTLE (-9.8%) and UBA (-5.3%), causing a 0.3% decline in the ASI to 97,830.65 points. As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed -2.2% and +30.8%, respectively.
The total trading volume increased by 5.3% to 399.39 million units, valued at NGN8.00 billion, and exchanged in 10,447 deals. ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by volume and value, at 44.24 million units and NGN1.51 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Consumer Goods (-2.1%), Banking (-1.7%), and Insurance (-0.8%) indices declined, while the Oil & Gas (+0.4%) index advanced. The Industrial Goods index remained unchanged.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.5x), as 37 tickers lost relative to 18 gainers. UCAP (-9.9%) and NESTLE (-9.8%) recorded the highest losses of the day, while ABCTRANS (+10.0%) and OANDO (+9.8%) topped the gainers’ list.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.7% to NGN1,621.12/USD in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 16bps to 25.9% in the absence of any significant inflows into the system.
Sentiments in the NTB secondary market remained bullish, as the average yield contracted by 3bps to 25.2%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-1bp) and long (-10bps) ends, following demand for the 86DTM (-1bp) and 191DTM (-46bps) bills, respectively. Conversely, the average yield expanded at the mid (+8bps) segment, driven by sell pressures on the 177DTM (+56bps) bill. Elsewhere, the average yield increased by 2bps to 24.9% in the OMO segment.
Meanwhile, the FGN bond secondary market traded on a bearish note, as the average yield rose by 3bps to 19.4%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield advanced at the short (+8bps) and long (+1bp) ends, as investors took profits off the MAR-2025 (+38bps) and MAR-2050 (+11bps) bonds, respectively. The average yield closed flat at the mid-segment.
