EQUITIES
Bearish sentiments persisted in the Nigerian equities market, as sell pressures in ZENITHBANK (-2.3%) and FIRSTHOLDCO (-2.4%) caused a 0.1% decline in the All-Share Index to 105,426.12 points. Sequentially, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed -2.2% and +2.4%, respectively.
The total volume of trade decreased by 92.7% to 423.62 million units, valued at NGN9.18 billion, and exchanged in 11,393 deals. ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume at 64.96 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN1.97 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed as the Banking (-1.2%) and Oil & Gas (-0.2%) indices declined, while the Insurance (+0.2%) index closed higher. The Industrial Goods and Consumer Goods indices remained unchanged.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.7x), as 28 tickers lost relative to 20 gainers. JOHNHOLT (-10.0%) and CHAMS (-8.5%) led the losers, while MBENEFIT (+9.1%) and UNIVINSURE (+9.1%) recorded the most significant gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate depreciated by 0.1% to NGN1,538.53/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 573bps to 27.1% following inflows from FGN bond coupon disbursements (NGN645.88 billion).
Activities in the NTB secondary market were bearish as the average yield expanded by 22bps to 19.5%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+4bps) and mid (+73bps) segments, driven by selloffs of the 91DTM (+27bps), and 147DTM (+110bps) bills, respectively; while it contracted at the long (-1bp) end driven by demand for the 329DTM (-1bp) bill. Similarly, the average yield advanced by 16bps to 22.7% in the OMO segment.
Meanwhile, trading in the Treasury bond secondary market was quiet, as the average yield remained unchanged at 18.5%.
Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+11bps) and mid (+6bps) segments driven by selloffs of the JUL-2030 (+16bps) and FEB-2031 (+24bps) bonds respectively, while it closed flat at the long end.
