EQUITIES
The Nigerian stock market maintained its bearish momentum in today’s trading session as sustained profit-taking activities in BUACEMENT (-3.9%) undermined the benchmark index. As a result, the All-Share Index declined by 0.5% to close at 97,390.01 points. Thus, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -0.4% and +30.3%, respectively.
The total volume traded advanced by 20.3% to 599.25 million units, valued at NGN13.92 billion, and exchanged in 11,237 deals. GTCO was the most traded stock by volume and value at 72.00 million units and NGN3.28 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Banking (-1.9%), Insurance (-1.5%), Industrial Goods (-1.2%), and Oil & Gas (-0.1%) indices declined, while the Consumer Goods (+0.8%) index advanced.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x), as 28 tickers posted losses relative to 25 gainers. OANDO (-10.0%) and LIVESTOCK (-8.1%) topped the losers’ list, while MECURE (+10.0%) and NEIMETH (+9.9%) recorded the most significant gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.7% to NGN1,582.09/USD at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 22bps to 37.0% despite the inflows from OMO maturities (NGN20.50 billion).
Trading in the Treasury bills secondary market remained bullish, as the average yield contracted by 7bps to 25.6%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-1bp), mid (-2bps), and long (-14bps) segments due to buying interest in the 86DTM (-2bps), 177DTM (-2bps), and 205DTM (-149bps) bills, respectively. Elsewhere, the average yield expanded by 44bps to 26.6% in the OMO segment.
Meanwhile, the Treasury bonds secondary market traded with mixed sentiments, albeit with a bullish tilt, as the average yield pared by 1bp to 19.6%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield closed flat at the short end but declined at the mid (-5bps) segment due to demand for the JUN-2033 (-24bps) bond. Conversely, the average yield advanced slightly at the long (+1bp) end as investors sold off the JUN-2053 (+20bps) bond.
Cordros
