NGX Closes The Week Positive, ASI Gains 46bps

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Upward Trajectory Persists In The Local Bourse
Upward Trajectory Persists In The Local Bourse

At the end of today’s trading section, the Nigerian equities market closed positive as the benchmark index improved by 0.46% to close at 43,308.29 points.

This was mainly due to buy pressures in bellwether stocks such AIRTELAFRI (+3.83%) and ARDOVA (+3.03%). Consequently, the YTD return increased to 7.54% as market capitalisation improved by ₦104.11 billion to close at  ₦22.60trillion.

The sectoral performance significantly weakened as four of the five indices under coverage declined, while the Insurance index improved by 1.98% on ROYALEX  (+10.00%). The Consumer Goods, the biggest loser, decreased by 9.82% on FLOURMILL (-1.62%). The Banking, Oil & Gas and Industrial indices followed suit, declining by 0.33%, 0.03 and 0.01% on ACCESS (-1.10%), OANDO (-0.98%) and CUTIX (-3.16%) respectively.

Investor sentiment weakened but higher than the previous trading session, as market breadth improved to 0.75x from 0.58x. This was illustrated by the advance of 18 stocks, led by ROYALEX (+10.00%) and ABCTRANS (+10.00%) and the decline of 24 stocks, led by UPDCREIT (-9.82%) and CHAMPION (-5.90%). Activity level was mixed as the total volume improved by 14.73% while the total value declined by 15.15% as investors exchanged about 305.32 million units of shares worth over ₦3.58 billion.

We expect bullish momentum to persist 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-JAN-2026 and FGN-JUL-2030 bond papers closed flat at 11.68% and 12.29% respectively. Each of the yields on the FGN-APR-2023 and FGN-APR-2024 bond papers compressed by 1bp respectively.

Treasury bill yields for the 91 and 182-day papers compressed by 1bp and 177bps to close at 2.46% and 3.35% respectively while the 364-day closed flat at 6.56%.

 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 Gains 46bps
  • Mixed Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
  • Negative Sentiment in Global Stocks
  • Brent Crude Reports at $77.35/barrel
  • Positive Performance in African Stocks