BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
The domestic equities market sustained its positive run, as demand for WAPCO (+3.1%) and FBNH (+1.8%) stocks spurred a third consecutive gain in the market.
Precisely, the All-Share Index notched a 0.3% increase to 43,607.94 points. Accordingly, the Year-to-Date return increased to +2.1%.
The total volume of trades decreased by 85.9% to 174.61 million units, valued at NGN2.13 billion, and exchanged in 3,715 deals. FBNH was the most traded stock by volume at 27.09 million units, while newly listed BUAFOODS was the most traded stock by value at NGN544.69 million.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative, as the Insurance (-1.4%), Oil & Gas (-0.9%), Industrial Goods (-0.4%) and Consumer Goods (-0.1%) indices printed losses while the Banking (+0.4%) index was the sole gainer.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.9x) as 23 tickers gained relative to 12 losers. BUAFOODS (+10.0%) and ACADEMY (+9.1%) topped the gainers’ list while NEM (-7.8%) and FTNCOCOA (-7.7%) recorded the most significant losses of the day.
At the currency market, the naira depreciated by 0.1% to N416.25/USD at the I&E window on Thursday.
The overnight lending rate contracted by 100bps to 4.3% in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
Trading in the NTB secondary market was bullish, as the average yield declined by 4bps to 4.4%. Across the curve, the average yield was flat at the short and mid segments but contracted at the long (-8bps) end due to demand for the 231DTM (-83bps) bill. Similarly, the average yield contracted by 5bps to 5.5% in the OMO segment.
Proceedings at the Treasury bond secondary market remained mixed, albeit with a bearish tilt, as the average yield inched higher by 1bp to 11.4%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+2bps) end due to sell-off of the APR-2023 (+13bps) bond; yields were unchanged at the mid and long segments.
