BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
Trading in the Nigerian equities market kicked off the week with negative sentiments as late profit-taking activities witnessed in Airtel Africa Plc (-1.7%) caused a 0.3% decline in the benchmark index. Thus, the All-Share Index closed at 47,063.28 points.
Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +1.0% and +10.2%, respectively.
The total volume traded increased by 8.5% to 338.03 million units, valued at N5.68 billion, and exchanged in 5,619 deals. Fidelity Bank Plc was the most traded stock by volume at 35.82 million units, while MTN Nigeria Plc was the most traded stock by value at N1.67 billion.
Analysing by sectors, the Oil & Gas (-0.2%), Insurance (-0.2%), and Industrial Goods (-0.1%) indices declined while the Consumer Goods (+1.1%) index advanced. The Banking index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.1x) as 23 tickers gained relative to 21 losers. NCR (+10.0%) and GUINNESS (+10.0%) recorded the most significant gains of the day, while COURTVILLE (-7.3%) and CUSTODIAN (-5.7%) topped the losers’ list.
In the currency market, the naira depreciated by 0.2% to NGN416.67/USD at the investors and Exchange ( I&E) window while the overnight lending rate contracted by 75bps to 3.3% in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system in the money market.
Trading in the NTB secondary market was quiet, as the average yield was unchanged at 4.2%. Elsewhere, the average yield declined by 19bps to 5.5% in the OMO segment.
The Treasury bond secondary market traded with mixed sentiments, albeit with a bullish bias, as the average yield pared by 3bps to 11.5%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-2bps), mid (-1bp), and long (-4bps) segments following increased demand for the APR-2023 (-4bps), JUL-2030 (-3bps), and MAR-2036 (-14bps) bonds, respectively.
