At the end of yesterday’s trading session, the Nigerian equities market closed negative as the benchmark index declined by 1.08% to close at 41,807.10 points.
This was mainly due to sell pressures in bellwether stocks such as BUACEMENT (-0.44%) and MTNN (-0.38%). Consequently, the YTD return decreased to 3.82% as market capitalisation declined by ₦237.81 billion to close at ₦21.82 trillion.
The sectoral performance significantly weakened as four of the five indices under coverage declined while the Banking index, the only gainer, improved by 1.41% on UBN (+9.91%). The Industrial index, the biggest loser, declined by 3.91% on BUACEMENT (-10.00%). The Oil & Gas, Insurance and Consumer Goods indices followed suit, decreasing by 0.52%, 0.24% and 0.16% on OANDO (-2.17%), AIICO (-1.41%) and PZ (-8.96%) respectively.
Investor sentiment strengthened as the market breadth increased to 1.06x from 0.92x. This was illustrated by the advance of 17 stocks, led by UBN (+9.91%) and ROYALEX (+9.09%) and the decline of 16 stocks, led by BUACEMENT (-10.00%) and MAYBAKER (-9.98%). Activity level strengthened as the total volume and value increased by 61.10% and 62.38% respectively as investors exchanged about 180.18million units of shares worth over ₦1.48billion
We expect positive sentiment to return in the next trading session as the equities market still presents decent opportunities for investors chasing positive real returns on investments.
Fixed Income
There was bullish sentiment across the bond yield curve as 3 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed lower while the yield on FGN-JUL-2030 closed flat at 12.60%. The yields on FGN-APR-2023, FGN-APR-2024 and FGN-JAN-2026 compressed by 5bps, 2bps and 1bp respectively.
Treasury bill yields for the 91, 182 and 364 day-papers closed flat at 3.27%, 3,73% and 5.24% respectively.
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 after X-mas Break, NGX ASI Sheds 108bps
- Bullish Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Mixed Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports at $79.83/barrel
- Negative Performance in African Stocks
