The Nigerian equities market closed positive at the end of yesterday’s trading session, as the benchmark index improved by 0.73% to close at 43,026.23 points.
This was mainly due to buy pressures in bellwether stocks such as BUACEMENT (+7.31%) and STANBIC (+5.56%). Consequently, the YTD return increased to 6.89% as market capitalisation improved by ₦886.92 billion to close at ₦23.18 trillion.
The sectoral performance was mixed as two of the five indices under coverage improved, two declined while the Consumer Goods index closed flat. The Industrial and Banking indices improved by 2.95% and 0.21% on BUACEMENT (+7.31%) and STANBIC (+5.56%) respectively. On the flip side, the Oil & Gas and Insurance indices, the losers, declined by 0.50% and 0.48% on ARDOVA (-10.00%) and SUNUAASSUR (-8.89%) respectively.
Investor sentiment weakened as the market breadth decreased to 0.67x from 2.58x. This was illustrated by the advance of 18 stocks, led by ACADEMY (+10.00%) and WEMABANK (+9.72%) and the decline of 27 stocks, led by ARDOVA (-10.00%) and VITAFOAM (-10.00%). Activity level weakened as the total volume and value decreased by 52.41% and 84.67% respectively as investors exchanged about 216.65million units of shares worth over ₦1.52billion.
We expect positive sentiment to persist 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 relatively bullish sentiment across the bond yield curve as 2 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed lower, the FGN-JAN-2026 closed flat at 11.27% while the FGN-JUL-2030 closed higher by 1bp. The yields on FGN-APR-2023 and FGN-APR-2024 compressed by 4bps and 10bps respectively.
Treasury bill yields for the 91, 182 and 364 day-papers compressed by 27bps, 59bps and 1bp to close at 3.00%, 3.73% and 5.23% 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 and Year in Green, NGX ASI Gains 77bps
- Bullish Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Positive Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports at $79.81/barrel
- Positive Performance in African Stocks
