EQUITIES
Trading activities in the local bourse closed on a positive note today, as buying interest in TRANSCOHOT (+9.8%) triggered a 0.1% gain in the benchmark index. Thus, the NGX ASI closed at 98,169.30 points, as the MTD and YTD returns printed -6.1% and +31.3%, respectively.
The total volume traded declined by 24.9% to 297.20 million units, valued at NGN6.52 billion, and exchanged in 7,417 deals. ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by volume and value at 48.49 million and NGN1.77 billion, respectively.
On sectors, the Oil & Gas (-1.4%), Banking (-0.8%) and Consumer Goods (-0.1%) indices recorded losses while the Industrial Goods index closed flat. The Insurance (+0.9%) index was the sole gainer of the day.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.7x), as 23 tickers lost relative to 16 gainers. STERLINGNG (-9.7%) and CWG (-9.6%) recorded the most significant losses of the day, while TRANSCOHOT (+9.8%) and LIVESTOCK (+9.4%) topped the gainers’ list.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.1% to NGN1,309.88/USD at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 298bps to 28.4% following the FAAC disbursement (NGN777.11 billion) for March.
Proceedings in the T-bills secondary market sustained its bullish momentum, as the average yield fell by 260bps to 22.5%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-100bps), mid (-524bps) and long (-202bps) segments driven by bargain hunting for the 91DTM (-591bps), 105DTM (-573bps) and 196DTM (-432bps) bills, respectively. Also, the average yield contracted by 1bp to 18.8% in the OMO segment.
Sentiments in the FGN bond secondary market were bullish, as the average yield pared by 1bp to 18.9%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded slightly at the short (+1bp) end following mild sell-offs on the JAN-2026 (+1bp) bond but declined at the mid (+6bps) segment as players demanded the JUN-2033 (-24bps) bond. Elsewhere, the average yield was unchanged at the long end.
