EQUITIES
The domestic bourse started the week’s trading with bullish sentiments following buying interest in ZENITHBANK (+5.3%) and MTNN (+1.5%). Thus, the NGX ASI advanced by 0.3% to close at 99,971.64 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -0.1% and +33.7%, respectively.
The total volume of trades declined by 13.9% to 362.43 million units, valued at NGN7.37 billion, and exchanged in 8,405 deals. GTCO was the most traded stock by volume and value at 66.90 million units and NGN3.06 billion, respectively.
On sectors, the Banking (+1.3%) and Insurance (+0.1%) indices posted gains, while the Consumer Goods (-0.1%) index settled lower. Meanwhile, the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.9x), as 29 tickers gained relative to 15 losers. CUTIX (+10.0%) and IKEJAHOTEL (+9.5%) topped the gainers’ list, while CHELLARAM (-9.8%) and ABBEYBDS (-7.0%) recorded the highest losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.9% to NGN1,577.29/USD at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 26bps to 32.2% in the absence of any significant inflows into the system.
The Treasury bills secondary market traded with bullish sentiments, as the average yield contracted by 2bps to 23.3%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-3bps), mid (-4bps) and long (-1bp) segments, driven by demand for the 73DTM (-3bps), 164DTM (-4bps) and 311DTM (-6bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield dipped by 5bps to 24.2% in the OMO segment.
Meanwhile, activities in the FGN bond secondary market were bearish, as the average yield expanded by 4bps to 19.1%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield increased at the short (+15bps) end, as investors sold off the MAR-2025 (+70bps) bond but was unchanged at the mid and long segments.
