EQUITIES
Bearish sentiments persisted in the Nigerian equities market as sell pressures in TRANSCORP (-8.2%) caused a 0.4% decline in the benchmark index to 106,434.02 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -1.3% and +3.4%, respectively.
The total trading volume decreased by 5.6% to 373.20 million units, valued at NGN11.08 billion, and exchanged in 11,198 deals. FIDELITYBK was the most traded stock by volume at 47.92 million units, while OKOMUOIL was the most traded stock by value at NGN2.53 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was bearish as the Insurance (-3.9%), Consumer Goods (-1.5%), Banking (-0.8%), and Oil & Gas (-0.1%) indices declined. The Industrial Goods index remained unchanged.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.3x), as 41 tickers lost relative to 12 gainers. CAVERTON (-10.0%) and ETERNA (-9.7%) led the losers, while TANTALIZER (+9.6%) and UHOMREIT (+8.8%) recorded the highest gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The official FX rate depreciated by 0.1% to NGN1,501.87/USD.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate increased by 9bps to 26.9% in the absence of any funding pressure on the system.
The Treasury bills secondary market was quiet, albeit with a bullish tilt, as the average yield declined by 1bp to 19.8%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-1bp), mid (-1bp), and long (-1bp) segments, driven by demand for the 78DTM (-1bp), 169DTM (-1bp), and 323DTM (-1bp) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield declined by 1bp to 22.5% in the OMO segment.
Proceedings in the FGN bond secondary market were quiet as the average yield remained unchanged at 18.2%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield increased at the long (+1bp) end, driven by selloffs of the MAR-2036 (+5bps) bond, while it closed flat at the short and mid segments.
