The Nigerian equities market closed positive at the end of yesterday’s trading session, as the benchmark index improved by 0.01% to close at 41,813.27 points.
This was mainly due to buy pressures in bellwether stocks such as ACCESS (+1.11%) and ZENITHBANK (+1.01%). Consequently, the YTD return increased to 3.83% as market capitalisation improved by ₦3.22 billion to close at ₦21.83 trillion.
The sectoral performance marginally weakened as three of the five indices under coverage declined. The Oil & Gas index, the biggest loser, declined by 0.78% on ARDOVA (-2.99%). The Consumer Goods and Industrial indices followed suit, decreasing by 0.27% and 0.06% on DANGSUGAR (-2.94%) and WAPCO (-1.04%) respectively. Conversely, the Insurance and Banking indices, the gainers, improved by 2.24% and 0.52% on CHIPLC (+0.77%) and ZENITHBANK (+1.01%) respectively.
Investor sentiment strengthened as the market breadth increased to 1.75x from 1.06x. This was illustrated by the advance of 21 stocks, led by CHIPLC (+10.00%) and MBENEFIT (+9.68%) and the decline of 12 stocks, led by FTNCOCOA (-7.50%) and VERITASKAP (-4.76%). Activity level strengthened as the total volume and value increased by 99.78% and 24.53% respectively as investors exchanged about 359.96million units of shares worth over ₦1.84billion.
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 quiet activity across the bond yield curve as all the 4 bond yields under coverage closed flat. The yields on FGN-APR-2023, FGN-APR-2024, FGN-JAN-2026 and FGN-JUL-2030 closed flat at 7.51%, 9.23%, 11.27% and 12.60% respectively.
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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
- Marginal Positive Performance in the Local Bourse, NGX ASI Up 1bp
- Quiet Activity across the Bond Yield Curve
- Positive Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports at $79.30/barrel
- Positive Performance in African Stocks
