EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market commenced the week on a negative note as sell pressures in TRANSCORP (-1.2%) drove the benchmark index lower by 0.1% to 107,937.74 points, with the Month-to-Date returns and Year-to-Date returns settling at 3.3% and +4.9%, respectively.
The total trading volume increased by 6.8% to 511.10 million units, valued at NGN12.81 billion, and exchanged in 17,095 deals. ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume and value at 143.65 million units and NGN4.03 billion, respectively.
Analysing by sectors, the Insurance (-1.7%), Oil & Gas (-1.1%), and Banking (-0.4%) indices declined, while the Consumer Goods (+1.4%) and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices advanced.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.4x), as 18 tickers gained relative to 41 losers. IKEJAHOTEL (-10.0%) and LEARNAFRICA (-10.0%) led the losers, while NB (+10.0%) and CADBURY (+10.0%) recorded the highest gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate depreciated by 0.2% to NGN1,512.58/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate was unchanged at 32.8% despite inflows from FGN bond coupon (NGN1.27 billion).
The Treasury bills secondary market traded with bullish sentiments as the average yield declined by 4bps to 22.0%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-4bps), mid (-4bps), and long (-4bps) segments, driven by demand for the 80DTM (-4bps), 176DTM (-4bps), and 262DTM (-4bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield declined by 6bps to 26.4% in the OMO segment.
The FGN bond secondary market was quiet as the average yield closed flat at 20.0%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield decreased at the mid (-2bps) segment, driven by interest in the FEB-2031 (-7bps) bond, while it closed flat at the short and long ends.
