EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market closed on a bearish note, as sell pressures on GTCO (-3.9%), OANDO (-5.8%), and ARADEL (-10.0%) weighed down the All-Share Index by 0.2% to 98,081.38 points. Sequentially, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed -0.5% and +31.2%, respectively.
The total volume traded declined by 7.1% to 239.31 million units, valued at NGN6.41 billion, and exchanged in 7,318 deals. STERLING was the most traded stock by volume at 42.79 million units, while ARADEL was the most traded stock by value at NGN1.04 billion.
Across sectors, the Banking (-0.6%) index declined, while the Insurance (+1.1%), Oil & Gas (+0.9%) and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices recorded gains. Meanwhile, the Consumer Goods index remained unchanged.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.8x), as 28 tickers gained relative to 16 losers. GOLDBREW (+10.0%) and DEADCAP (+9.9%) led the gainers, while ARADEL (-10.0%) and REGALINS (-8.8%) posted the most notable losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.1% to NGN1,660.49/USD in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 32bps to 32.6% in the absence of any significant inflows into the system.
Trading activities in the T-bills secondary market were bullish, as the average yield declined by 3bps to 23.5%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-2bps), and long (-6bps) segments following buying interests in the 84DTM (-1bp), 175DTM (-2bps), and 217DTM (-48bps) bills, respectively. Conversely, the average yield expanded by 12bps to 26.0% in the OMO segment.
Meanwhile, the FGN bond secondary market traded on a calm note, albeit with a bearish tilt, as the average yield expanded slightly by 1bp to 19.0%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+3bps) and mid (+1bp) segments due to selloffs of the APR-29 (+18bps) and JUL-30 (+6bps) bonds, respectively, but closed flat at the long end.
