EQUITIES
The local bourse maintained its downward momentum, closing lower for the seventh consecutive trading session, as losses in DANGCEM (-10.0%), MTNN (-10.0%) and BUACEMENT (-10.0%) caused a sharp 5.0% drop in the All-Share Index to 141,327.30 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled lower at -8.3% and +37.3%, respectively.
The total volume of trade advanced by 80.0% to 655.95 million units, valued at NGN29.39 billion, and exchanged in 29,558 deals. FIRSTHOLDCO was the most traded stock by volume at 68.27 million units, while GEREGU was the most traded stock by value at NGN4.42 billion.
Sectoral performance mirrored the broader market downturn, as the Industrial Goods (-8.6%), Banking (-7.3%), Oil & Gas (-4.6%), Insurance (-4.3%), and Consumer Goods (-2.2%) indices all closed lower.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.1x), as 59 tickers lost relative to 4 gainers. ACADEMY (-10.0%) and BUACEMENT (-10.0%) posted the most significant losses of the day, while NCR (+9.8%) and BERGER (+2.3%) led the gainers.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 0.7% to NGN1,425.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate remained unchanged at 24.86%.
The NTB secondary market traded on a bullish note as the average yield contracted by 14bps to 17.2%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+1bp) end, driven by profit-taking activities on the 86DTM (+12bps) bill, but contracted at the mid (-22bps) and long (-18bps) segments, due to the demand for the 100DTM (-43bps) and 191DTM (-37bps) bills, respectively. Likewise, the average yield contracted by 9bps to 21.9% in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, the FGN bond secondary market traded on a bullish note, as the average yield contracted by 8bps to 15.8%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-16bps) and mid (-11bps) segments, following the demand for the AUG-2030 (-27bps) and JUN-2033 (-21bps) bonds, respectively, while it closed flat at the long end.
