The Nigerian equities market closed positive at the end of yesterday’s trading session as the benchmark index improved by 0.30% to close at 43,607.94 points.
This was mainly due to buy pressures in bellwether stocks such as BUAFOODS (+10.00%) and ZENITHBANK (+0.20%). Consequently, the YTD return increased to 8.29% as market capitalisation improved by ₦70.69 billion to close at ₦23.50trillion.
The sectoral performance significantly weakened as four of the five indices under coverage declined while the Banking index, the only gainer, improved by 0.44% on ZENITHBANK (+0.20%). The Insurance index, the biggest loser, declined by 1.35% on NEM (-7.78%). The Oil & Gas, Industrial and Consumer Goods indices followed suit, reducing by 0.90%, 0.39% and 0.12% on OANDO (-5.15%), BUACEMENT (-1.43%) and UNILEVER (-3.45%) respectively.
Investor sentiment strengthened as the market breadth increased to 1.85x from 1.29x. This was illustrated by the advance of 24 stocks, led by BUAFOODS (+10.00%) and ACADEMY (+9.09%) and the decline of 13 stocks, led by SUNUASSUR (-9.76%) and NEM (-7.78%). Activity level weakened as the total volume and value decreased by 85.93% and 95.04% respectively as investors exchanged about 174.61million units of shares worth over ₦2.13billion.
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 mixed sentiment across the bond yield curve as 2 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed flat, the FGN-APR-2023 closed higher by 12bps while the FGN-MAR-2024 compressed by 1bp. The yields on FGN-JAN-2026 and FGN-JUL-2030 closed flat at 11.50% and 12.61% respectively.
Treasury bill yields for the 91, 182 and 364 day-papers closed flat 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
- Upward Trajectory Persists in the Local Bourse, NGX ASI Up 30bps
- Mixed Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Positive Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports at $82.30/barrel
- Positive Performance in African Stocks
