EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market opened the week on a bearish note, as losses in UBA (-2.9%), TRANSCORP (-1.1%), STERLINGNG (-6.9%), and ZENITHBANK (-0.4%) drove the All-Share Index down by 0.1% to 143,614.61 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -6.8% and +39.5%, respectively.
The total volume of trades increased by 5.8% to 694.78 million units, valued at NGN28.67 billion, and exchanged in 24,041.00 deals. GTCO was the most traded stock by volume and value at 203.85 million units and NGN17.24 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative as the Insurance (-0.8%), Oil & Gas (-0.6%) and Banking (-0.3%) indices declined, while the Industrial Goods and Consumer Goods indices closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.6x), as 26 tickers lost relative to 16 gainers. NPFMCRFBK (-7.9%) and PRESTIGE (-7.5%) posted the most significant losses of the day, while ETRANZACT (+9.1%) and INTENEGINS (+8.5%) led the gainers.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate appreciated by 1.2% to NGN1,440.00/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate remained unchanged at 24.8%, despite inflows from FGN bond coupon (NGN39.07 billion).
The NTB secondary market traded on a calm note, albeit with a bearish tilt, as the average yield expanded by 1bp to 17.0%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-5bps) and mid (-6bps) segments, driven by the demand for the 73DTM (-25bps) and 122DTM (-53bps) bills, respectively, while it expanded at the long (+10bps) end, due to profit-taking activities on the 346DTM (+57bps) bill. Similarly, the average yield expanded by 6bps to 21.5% in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, the FGN bond secondary market traded with bullish sentiments, as the average yield contracted by 3bps to 15.4%. Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-7bps) end, due to buying interest in the JAN-2033 (-48bps) bond, while it closed flat at the mid and long segments.
