- Naira falls off the curve across FX windows
The stock market experienced a continuation of bearish trends on, with the all-share index falling by 0.15 percent to 97,978.02 points due to significant sell-offs in blue-chip stocks on Thursday.
This decline reflects market reactions to current macroeconomic data.
Correspondingly, market capitalization also dropped by 0.15 percent, a decrease of N85 billion, bringing it to N55.42 trillion. The year-to-date (YTD) return further decreased to 31.03 percent.
The exchange recorded 17 gainers versus 28 decliners, indicating a predominantly negative market sentiment. Despite the overall downturn, trading activity was robust. The total traded volume increased by 16.47 percent to 316.5 million units, and the total traded value surged by 41.67 percent to N7.69 billion.
Additionally, the number of trades rose by 6.35 percent to a total of 7,852 transactions. Sectoral performance varied, with three out of five sectors ending in negative territory. The banking sector fell by 1.42 percent; the insurance sector plummeted by 190 percent, and the consumer goods sector experienced a slight decline of 0.05 percent.
Conversely, the oil and gas sector gained 0.72 percent, and the industrial goods sector remained unchanged. Notable gainers included CILEASING (9.90%), CAVERTON (7.69%), CHAMS (7.14%), CONHALLPLC (6.15%), and VERITASKAP (5.36%). On the other hand, SKYAVN (9.80%), NEM (9.47%), FTNCOCOA (9.35%), TANTALIZER (9.26%), and JAPAULGOLD (8.42%) saw significant declines. UBA was the most actively traded stock by volume, with 50.32 million units exchanged in 788 deals, while JBERGER led in value, with transactions worth N1.46 billion across 303 deals.
In the money market, the Overnight Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate (NIBOR) decreased by 10 percentage points to 32.04 percent, reflecting an easing liquidity crunch in the financial system. The 1-month, 3-month, and 6- month NIBOR rates also saw declines, settling at 23.07 percent, 23.86 percent, and 25.07 percent, respectively.
However, other key money market rates such as the Open Repo Rate (OPR) and Overnight Lending Rate (OVN) increased, closing at 31.72 percent and 32.34 percent. Rates in the NITTY space decreased across all tenors, with the 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month tenors declining by 55 basis points (bps), 24bps, 34bps, and 32bps, respectively.
The secondary market for Nigerian Treasury Bills was moderately active and bullish, highlighted by strong buy sentiment for the AUG-2024 instrument, which saw a 254bps decrease in yield, bringing the average T-bills yield down by 19bps to 20.72 percent.
In the bond market, activity for Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) Bonds was subdued. Investors offloaded MAR-25 and MAY-33 bonds, leading to yield increases of 2bps and 8bps, respectively. This movement caused the average secondary market yield to rise slightly from the previous day’s close of 18.70 percent. The sovereign Eurobonds market continued its negative trend, particularly affecting the MAR-29, NOV-27, and SEP-28 maturities, with their yields rising by 14bps, 11bps, and 11bps, respectively, pushing the average yield up by 9bps to 9.87 percent.
In the foreign exchange market, the parallel market saw the naira weaken by 1.16 percent, ending the day at an average of N1, 488 per dollar.