EQUITIES
The local bourse reversed yesterday’s gains as losses in AIRTELAFRI (-2.0%), UBA (-10.0%) and OANDO (-10.0%) caused a 0.3% decline in the benchmark index to 96,834.77 points. As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -0.8% and +29.5%, respectively.
The total volume traded decreased by 88.4% to 418.39 million units, valued at NGN10.04 billion, and exchanged in 9,021 deals. STERLINGNG was the most traded stock by volume at 79.65 million units, while UBA was the most traded stock by value at NGN2.57 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed as the Banking (-0.9%) and Consumer Goods (-0.1%) indices settled lower, while the Oil & Gas (+0.8%) and Insurance (+0.5%) indices advanced. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x), as 21 tickers lost relative to 19 gainers. UBA (-10.0%) and OANDO (-10.0%) topped the losers’ list, while REGALINS (+9.3%) and VERITASKAP (+9.2%) recorded the most significant gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.6% to NGN1,681.65/USD at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 216bps to 32.1% following debits (NGN1.45 trillion) for the OMO auction conducted yesterday.
The Nigerian treasury bills secondary market traded on a calm note but with a bullish undertone as participants awaited the results or outcome of today’s NTB auction. Thus, the average yield pared by 1bp to 24.0%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-1bp), mid (-2bps) and long (-1bp) segments, driven by demand for the 92DTM (-2bps), 169DTM (-2bps) and 323DTM (-2bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield dipped by 2bps to 26.4% in the OMO segment.
Activities in the Treasury bond secondary market were quiet as the average yield closed flat at 19.1%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+1bp) end following profit-taking activities on the JAN-2026 (+2bps) bond but closed flat at the mid and long segments.