EQUITIES
Sentiments in the domestic bourse turned positive as bargain-hunting activities witnessed in OANDO (+10.0%) triggered a 0.2% gain in the benchmark index. As a result, the NGX ASI closed at 96,407.88 points, with the MTD and YTD returns printing -1.4% and +28.9%, respectively.
The total volume traded increased by 116.5% to 966.97 million units, valued at NGN7.42 billion, and exchanged in 9,851 deals. FBNH was the most traded stock by volume and value at 64.09 million units and NGN1.41 billion, respectively.
Analysing by sectors, the Insurance (+2.0%), Consumer Goods (+1.3%), and Oil & Gas (+0.4%) indices advanced, while the Banking (-0.8%) index declined. The Industrial Goods index remained flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.1x), as 25 tickers gained relative to 23 losers. OANDO (+10.0%) and JBERGER (+10.0%) recorded the most significant gains of the day, while SCOA (-9.8%) and JAPAULGOLD (-7.4%) topped the losers’ list.
CURRENCY
The naira appreciated by 0.8% to NGN1,593.93/USD in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 271bps to 20.7% in the absence of any significant inflows into the system.
Bullish sentiments persisted in the T-bills secondary market, as the average yield declined by 13bps to 21.1%. Across the curve, the average yield decreased at the short (-1bp), mid (-1bp), and long (-28bps) segments following demand for the 84DTM (-1bp), 161DTM (-2bps), and 266DTM (-159bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield dipped by 2bps to 24.0% in the OMO segment.
The Treasury bond secondary market was bullish as the average yield contracted by 12bps to 18.9%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded slightly at the short (+1bp) end following profit-taking activities in the APR-2029 (+3bps) bond but declined at the mid (-34bps) and long (-7bps) segments due to investors interests in the JUN-2033 (-119bps) and APR-2049 (-45bps) bonds, respectively.
