The bearish run in the local bourse continued yesterday, as the All-Share Index declined by 0.1% to 38,233.68 points. The performance was driven by price drops in ZENITHBANK (-1.1%), FLOURMILL (-5.2%) and GUARANTY (-0.7%) stocks. Accordingly, Month-to-date and Year-to-Date losses increased to -4.0% and -5.1%, respectively.
The total volume of trades decreased by 18.8% to 203.09 million units, valued at NGN1.82 billion and exchanged in 3,594 deals. FIDELITYBK was the most traded stock by volume at 24.41 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN508.00 million.
Sectoral performance was largely mixed, with sentiments tilted to the negative side, as the Banking (-0.4%) and Consumer Goods (-0.1%) indices recorded declines. The Insurance (+1.2%) index gained, while the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.5x), as 20 tickers gained relative to 13 losers. JOHNHOLT (+9.7%) and VITAFOAM (+9.2%) were the top gainers for the day, while FTNCOCOA (-7.3%) and NPFMCRFBK (-5.6%) topped the losers’ list.
CURRENCY
The naira was flat at the I&E window at NGN411.50/USD but depreciated by 0.2% to NGN487.00/USD in the parallel market.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 125bps to 14.0%, without any significant funding pressures on the system.
Activity in the NTB secondary market was bearish, as the average yield expanded by 12bps to 5.9%. Across the curve, the average yield was flat at the short end but expanded at the mid (+28bps) and long (+4bps) segments, following sell-offs of the 113DTM (35bps) and 232DTM (+14bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield at the OMO segment expanded by 12bps to 9.7%.
Trading in the Treasury bond secondary market was also bearish, as the average yield expanded slightly by 1bp to 12.4%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+3bps), and long (+4bps) ends due to sell-offs of the JAN-2022 (+12bps) and APR-2037 (+21bps) bonds, respectively, but contracted at the mid (-6bps) segment due to demand for the APR-2029 (-21bps) bond.
