The Nigerian equities market closed positive at the end of today’s session as the benchmark index improved by 0.17% to close at 42,014.50 points.
This was mainly due to buy pressures in bellwether stocks such as UBA (+4.32%) and ARDOVA (+4.07%). Consequently, the YTD return improved to 4.33% as market capitalisation increased by ₦36.88 billion to close at ₦21.93trillion.
The sectoral performance marginally strengthened as three of the five indices under coverage improved. The Banking index, the biggest gainer, increased by 1.76% on UBA (+4.32%). The Insurance and Oil & Gas indices followed suit, rising by 0.83% and 0.22% on CHIPLC (+9.26%), and ARDOVA (+4.07%) respectively. On the flip side, the Consumer Goods and Industrial indices, the losers, declined by 0.51% and 0.02% on UNILEVER (-6.32%) and WAPCO (-0.39%) respectively.
Investor sentiment strengthened in today’s trading session, as market breadth increased to 1.92x from 0.52x. This was illustrated by the advance of 25 stocks, led by WEMABANK (+10.00%) and CHIPLC (+9.26%) and the decline of 13 stocks, led by UNILEVER (-6.32%) and UNIVINSURE (-4.55%). Activity level strengthened as total volume and value increased by 72.21% and 69.19% as investors exchanged about 277.04 million units of shares worth over ₦2.38 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 mixed sentiment across the bond yield curve as 2 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed lower while the yields on the FGN-APR-2024 and and FGN-JUL-2030 bond papers closed higher by 29bps and 14bps respectively. Both yields on the FGN-APR-2023 and FGN-JAN-2026 bond papers compressed by 2bps and 3bps respectively.
Treasury bill yields for the 91 and 364-day papers compressed by 45bps and 36ps to close at 3.77% and 7.15% respectively while the 182-day paper closed flat at 4.81%.
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 Closes the Week in Green, NGX ASI Up 17bps
- Mixed Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Positive Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Positive Performance in the Commodities Market
- Negative Performance in African Stocks
