EQUITIES
The domestic equities market ended its bullish run as losses in MTNN (-4.1%), ARADEL (-5.1%), and NB (-2.3%) drove a 0.4% decline in the All-Share Index to 166,057.29 points. As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at +6.7%.
The total volume of trades advanced by 35.8% to 1.03 billion units, valued at NGN31.59 billion, and exchanged in 51,227 deals. SOVRENINS was the most traded stock by volume at 245.18 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN5.03 billion.
On sectors, the Banking (+0.8%) and Consumer Goods (+0.3%) indices advanced while the Oil & Gas (-2.2%) and Insurance (-0.2%) indices declined. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x), as 35 tickers gained relative to 40 losers. MCNICHOLS (-10.0%) and CAVERTON (+9.5%) led the laggards, while NESTLE (+10.0%) and NRC (+10.0%) posted the most significant gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate depreciated by 0.8% to NGN1,430.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 7bps to 22.8% in the absence of significant inflows into the system.
The NTB secondary market closed on a bearish note, as the average yield expanded by 4bps to 18.2%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+20bps) end, driven by sell pressure on the 63DTM (+108bps) bill, but contracted at the short (-3bps) end, due to the demand for the 357DTM (-33bps) bill. The average yield remained unchanged at the mid segment. Conversely, the average yield contracted by 3bps to 22.4% in the OMO segment.
The FGN bond secondary market traded with bullish sentiments, as the average yield contracted by 3bps to 16.7%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-8bps) ends, following buying interest in the FEB-2031 (-35bps) bond, but expanded at the mid (+1bp) segment due to the sell-off of the APR-2032 (+41bps) bond. The average yield closed flat at the long end.
