EQUITIES
Sentiments turned bearish in the domestic stock market as sell pressures in ZENITHBANK (-4.6%) and GTCO (-3.6%) caused a 0.2% decline in the All-Share Index to 98,129.16 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -0.1% and +31.2%, respectively.
The total trading volume increased by 21.9% to 271.71 million units, valued at NGN5.43 billion, and exchanged in 7,383 deals. ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume at 35.58 million units, while GTCO was the most traded stock by value at NGN1.35 billion.
Analysing by sectors, the Banking (-2.0%) and Insurance (-0.9%) indices declined, while the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat. The Industrial Goods (+0.2%) index was the sole gainer for the day.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.7x), as 21 tickers lost relative to 15 gainers. MULTIVERSE (-9.8%) and CORNERST (-9.5%) recorded the most significant losses of the day, while TANTALIZER (+8.0%) and WAPIC (+7.8%) topped the gainers’ list.
CURRENCY
The naira appreciated by 0.2% to NGN1,462.59/USD at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 142bps to 30.7%, in the absence of any significant inflows into the system.
Activities in the Treasury bills secondary market remained mixed but with a bullish tilt, as the average yield pared by 1bp to 22.1%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-1bp), mid (-1bp) and long (-1bp) segments following demand for the 50DTM (-2bps), 169DTM (-1bp) and 337DTM (-2bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield contracted by 1bp to 20.9% in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, proceedings in the Treasury bonds secondary market were quiet, as the average yield closed flat at 18.6%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield increased slightly at the short (+1bp) end due to profit-taking activities on the MAR-2025 (+2bps) bond but was unchanged at the mid and long segments.
