EQUITIES
Bullish sentiments continued in the Nigerian equities market in the first trading session in May underpinned by bargain hunting in GTCO (+7.0%), DANGSUGAR (+9.9%), FBNH (+4.6%) and UBA (+4.6%). As a result, the All-Share index inched higher by 0.6% to close at 98,762.78 points, with the Year-to-Date gain advancing to +32.1%, Cordros analysts noted.
The total volume of trades increased by 20.5% to 665.20 million units, valued at NGN5.54 billion, and exchanged in 8,446 deals. ABBEYBDS was the most traded stock by volume at 362.82 million units, while ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by value at NGN954.62 million.
Performance across the sectors was broadly positive, as the Banking (+3.2%), Oil & Gas (+1.0%), Insurance (+0.7%) and Consumer Goods (+0.6%) indices advanced while the Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (2.0x), as 28 tickers gained relative to 14 losers. PRESCO (+10.0%) and FLOURMILL (+10.0%) topped the gainers’ list, while NASCON (-10.0%) and UPL (-9.3%) recorded the most significant losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.8% to NGN1,402.67/USD at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 258bps to 28.4%, in the absence of any significant inflows into the system.
Activities in the T-bills secondary market remained bearish, as the average yield expanded by 21bps to 22.4%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-3bps) and mid (-2bps) segments following interest in the 70DTM (-3bps) and 175DTM (-2bps) bills, respectively but advanced at the long (+46bps) end as players took profits off the 217DTM (+192bps) bill. Elsewhere, the average yield dipped by 2bps to 18.7% in the OMO segment.
Activities in the FGN bond secondary market closed on a bullish note, as the average yield declined by 2bps to 18.9%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded slightly at the short (+1bp) end driven by sell pressures on the MAR-2025 (+3bps) bond but contracted at the mid (-9bps) segment as investors demanded the APR-2032 (+14bps) bond. Meanwhile, the average yield stayed flat at the long end.
