EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market closed today’s trading session on a bullish note, as gains in BUACEMENT (+1.3%), UBA (+3.1%), GUINESS (+10.0%), and GTCO (+0.7%) drove the All-Share Index higher by 0.3% to 145,323.87 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at +1.3% and +41.2%, respectively.
The total volume of trades advanced by 271.3% to 2.25 billion units, valued at NGN20.97 billion, and exchanged in 21,513.00 deals. ETRANZACT was the most traded stock by volume and value at 1.85 billion units and NGN5.55 billion.
Sectoral performance was mixed as the Banking (+0.7%), Industrial Goods (+0.5%), Consumer Goods (+0.4%) and Insurance (+0.3%) indices advanced, while the Oil & Gas index (-0.5%) declined.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.9x), as 30 tickers gained relative to 16 losers. GUINNESS (+10.0%) and NCR (+10.0%) led the gainers, while VERITASKAP (-4.5%) and LASACO (-3.8%) posted the most significant losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 0.1% to NGN1,445.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 4bps to 22.8%, in the absence of liquidity pressures.
The NTB secondary market traded on a quiet note, albeit with bullish sentiment as the average yield contracted by 1bp to 16.8%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the mid (-1bp) and long (-1bp) segments, driven by the demand for the 183DTM (-1bp) and 357DTM (-1bp) bills, respectively, while it closed flat at the short end. Similarly, the average yield contracted by 2bps to 21.9% in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, the FGN bond secondary market traded on a calm note, as the average yield closed flat at 15.5%.
