Naira appreciates 0.41% in parallel market
BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
At the close of Tuesday’s trading session, the domestic bourse All-Share Index advanced by 0.45 percent to close at 47,565.92 points amid sustained profit-taking activity even as the number of losers (15) outweighed the gainers (12).
As a result, the NGX ASI’s year-to-date gain increased to 11.35 percent. Share prices of mid and large-cap equities such as MAYBAKER, BUACEMENT, UBA, ACCESSCORP, and NGXGROUP climbed by 9.76 percent, 8.65 percent, 3.70 percent, 2.63 percent, and 2.38 percent, respectively.
Sector performance was strong, with three of the five indices tracked closing northwards; the NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, and NGX Industrial indices rose by 0.65 percent, 0.24 percent, and 3.18 percent, respectively. The NGX Consumer Goods and NGX Oil/Gas indexes, on the other hand, fell 0.10 percent and 2.41 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, market activity was upbeat, with total trades and value increasing by 8.92 percent and 11.09 percent, to 4,188 trades and N1.90 billion, respectively. GTCO was the most active stock in terms of volume, with 38.87 million shares worth N659.10 million changing hands in 682 deals.
The overnight lending rate fell to 16.75 percent from 17.25 percent at the money market as NIBOR increased across the board for the majority of maturities tracked as banks with liquidity requested higher rates. Elsewhere, NITTY moved in mixed directions.
In the OTC bond market, the values of plain vanilla FGN bonds remained unchanged for most maturities tracked as investors stayed on the sidelines. On the flip side, the values of the FGN Eurobond fell for all maturities tracked amid renewed bearish sentiment.
At the foreign exchange market, Naira fell from N439.70 to N441.17 against the US dollar at the I&E windows. However, the parallel market rate rose by 0.41 percent, rising from N740 to N737. Global Oil Market as of 4:00 p.m. GMT+1, Brent crude is down 1.71 percent to $94.55 a barrel. Meanwhile, WTI crude oil fell 1.76 percent to $89.52 per barrel. On Tuesday, oil prices rose further as recession fears, a rising dollar, and an increase of COVID-19 cases in China prompted concerns about global demand.
