EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market continued its bullish trend from yesterday, as gains in WAPCO (+6.2%), GTCO (+0.54%), and INTBREW (+4.1%) spurred a 0.3% increase in the All-Share index to 139,796.11 points. Consequently, the month-to-date and year-to-date returns settled at -0.4% and +35.8%, respectively.
The total volume of trade declined by 30.5% to 659.17 million units, valued at NGN12.50 billion, exchanged in 25,334 deals. FCMB was the most traded stock by volume and value, at 202.49 million units and NGN2.10 billion, respectively.
On sectors, performance was broadly positive as the Insurance (+1.0%), Industrial Goods (+0.9%), Banking (+0.4%), and Consumer Goods (+0.3%) indices closed higher, while the Oil & Gas (-0.1%) index declined.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.9x), as 35 tickers gained relative to 18 losers. REGALINS (+10.0%) and MECURE (+9.9%) recorded the most significant gains of the day, while UNILEVER (-9.8%) and FTNCOCOA (-9.4%) led the laggards.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 0.1% to NGN1,510.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate declined by 3bps to 26.9% in the absence of any significant inflows into the system.
Activities in the Treasury bills secondary market were bearish, as the average yield expanded by 4bps to 18.8%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+7bps), mid (+1bp) and long (+3bps) segments, driven by the profit-taking activities on the 86DTM (+56bps), 93DTM (+8bps) and 268DTM (+12bps) bills, respectively. Conversely, the average yield declined by 11bps to 25.4% in the OMO segment.
Meanwhile, the FGN bond secondary market traded on a bullish note, as the average yield declined by 8bps to 16.6%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-12bp) and mid (-18bps) segments, driven by the demand for the FEB-2028 (-47bps) and FEB-2031 (-39bps) bonds, respectively. The average yield remained unchanged at the long end.
