The Nigerian equities market closed negative at the end of today’s session as the benchmark index declined by 0.71% to close at 41,144.67 points.
This was mainly due to sell pressures in bellwether stocks such as NESTLE (-5.07%) and DANGSUGAR (-0.28%). Consequently, the YTD return declined to 2.17% as market capitalization decreased by ₦153.15 billion to close at ₦21.47 trillion.
The sectoral performance marginally weakened as three of the five indices under coverage declined. The Consumer Goods index, the biggest loser, decreased by 2.53% on NESTLE (-5.07%). The Insurance and Oil & Gas indices followed suit, falling by 1.66% and 0.31% on MBENEFIT (+6.67) and OANDO (-1.54%) respectively. Conversely, the Banking and Industrial indices, improved by 0.43% and 0.34% on ZENITHBANK (+0.61%) and WAPCO (+2.70%).
Investor sentiment weakened in today’s trading session, as market breadth decreased to 0.90x from 3.88x. This was illustrated by the advance of 19 stocks, led by NGXGROUP (+9.86%) and IKEJAHOTEL (+9.52%) and the decline of 21 stocks, led by MAYBAKER (-8.02%) and ROYALEX (-7.81%). Activity level weakened as total volume and value decreased by 53.53% and 52.43% as investors exchanged about 338.72 million units of shares worth over 4.06 billion.
We expect bullish momentum to return in the next trading session as the equities market still presents decent opportunities for investors chasing positive real return on investments.
Fixed Income
There was relatively bullish sentiment across the bond yield curve as 2 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed lower, the yield on the FGN-JUL-2030 bond increased by 12bps while the yield on the FGN-JAN-2026 bond closed flat at 10.90%. Both yields on the FGN-APR-2023 and FGN-APR-2024 compressed by 2bps respectively.
Treasury bill yields for the 91-day and 182-day papers closed flat at 3.76% and 4.40% respectively while the 364-day paper compressed by 1bp to close at 7.35%.
We expect a further decline in yields in the next trading session on the back of huge demand from investors and the deliberate efforts of the DMO to reduce borrowing costs.
MARKET SNAPSHOT
- Local Bourse Starts the Week in Red, NGX ASI Sheds 71bps
- Bullish Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Bearish Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Negative Performance in the Commodities Market
- Negative Performance in African Stocks
