EQUITIES
The local bourse paused its two-day bullish run as sell pressures on MTNN (-3.4%) undermined market performance. Thus, the NGX ASI declined by 4bps to close at 100,032.32 points. Sequentially, the MTD and YTD returns settled at 0.0% and +33.8%, respectively.
The total trading volume increased by 198.4% to 1.10 billion units, valued at NGN10.08 billion, and exchanged in 8,720 deals. JAIZBANK was the most traded stock by volume at 528.49 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN3.11 billion.
Analysing by sectors, the Banking (+1.1%) and Oil & Gas (+0.1%) indices recorded gains, while the Insurance (-0.4%) index declined. Meanwhile, the Consumer Goods and Industrial Goods indices closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (2.2x), as 28 tickers gained relative to 13 losers. UCAP (+10.0%) and AFRIPRUD (+9.9%) topped the gainers’ list, while RTBRISCOE (-5.7%) and FTNCOCOA (-4.4%) recorded the highest losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.3% to NGN1,581.65/USD in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 31bps to 32.4%, in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
Sentiments in the T-bills secondary market turned bearish, as average yield advanced by 16bps to 23.4%. Across the curve, the average yield increased at the short (+66bps) and mid (+13bps) segments following sell offs on the 37DTM (+205bps) and 163DTM (+68bps) bills, respectively. Conversely, the average yield declined at the long (-8bps) end as players demanded the 219DTM (-68bps) bill. Elsewhere, the average yield dipped by 2bps to 24.2% in the OMO segment.
The Treasury bond secondary market traded in a lull, as the average yield was flat at 19.1%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield notched higher at the short (+1bp) end following profit-taking activities in the MAR-2025 (+4bps) bond but was unchanged at the mid and long segments.
