EQUITIES
Bearish sentiments resurfaced in the Nigerian equities market, as sell pressures on OANDO (-9.4%), NESTLE (-4.0%), and DANGSUGAR (-4.8%) caused a 0.1% decline in the All-Share Index to 97,260.75 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -0.4% and +30.1%, respectively.
The total volume of trades increased by 17.6% to 350.38 million units, valued at NGN9.26 billion, and exchanged in 10,224 deals. UCAP was the most traded stock by volume at 76.76 million units, while ARADEL was the most traded stock by value at NGN1.55 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Consumer Goods (-0.9%) index posted losses, while the Banking (+0.5%) and Insurance (+0.1%) indices advanced. The Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.7x), as 28 tickers lost relative to 19 gainers. VFDGROUP (-10.0%) and ROYALEX (-9.7%) led the losers, while JOHNHOLT (+9.8%) and SUNUASSUR (+9.7%) posted the most notable gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.5% to NGN1,689.88/USD in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 155bps to 31.1% in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
The T-bills secondary market traded on a calm note but with a bearish tilt, as the average yield pared by 1bp to 24.0%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the mid (+7bps) segment driven by the selloff of the 100DTM (+59bps) bill but declined at the short (-1bp) and long (-2bps) ends following buying interests in the 86DTM (-2bps) and 345DTM (-2bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield expanded by 21bps to 26.5% in the OMO segment.
Trading in the Treasury bond secondary market was quiet, albeit with a bullish undertone, as the average yield contracted by 1bp to 19.1%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the mid (-15bps) segment, driven by the demand for the JUL-2034 (-77bps) bond, but expanded at the long (+7bps) end following profit-taking activities on the APR-2037 (+100bps) bond. The average yield remained unchanged at the short end.
