The Nigerian equities market closed negative at the end of yesterday’s trading session as the benchmark index declined by 0.12% to close at 44,399.66 points.
This was mainly due to selloffs in bellwether stocks such as BUAFOODS (-6.36%) and WAPCO (-0.78%). Consequently, the YTD return decreased to 10.25% as market capitalisation declined by ₦29.64 billion to close at ₦23.92 trillion.
The sectoral performance was marginally strengthened as three of the five indices under coverage improved. The Industrial index, the biggest gainer, improved by 0.81% on BUACEMENT (+2.19%). The Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices, the gainers, improved by 0.21% and 0.20% on ETERNA (+6.95%) and NB (+2.83%) respectively. Conversely, the Insurance and Banking indices, the losers, declined by 0.19% and 0.08% on MBENEFIT (-7.41%) and UBA (-1.21%) respectively.
Investor sentiment weakened as the market breadth decreased to 0.73x from 0.82x. This was illustrated by the advance of 16 stocks, led by TIP (+10.00%) and SUNUASSUR (+9.68%) and the decline of 22 stocks, led by VERITASKAP (-8.70%) and MBENEFIT (-7.41%). Activity level weakened as the total volume and value declined by 47.18% and 72.64% respectively as investors exchanged about 214.32million units of shares worth over ₦2.69billion.
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 relatively bullish sentiment across the bond yield curve as 2 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed lower, the yield on FGN-JAN-2026 inched up by 18bps while the yield on the FGN-JUL-2030 closed flat at 12.61%. The yields on the FGN-APR-2023 and FGN-MAR-2024 bond papers compressed by 3bps and 2bps respectively.
Treasury bill yields for the 91-day closed flat at 2.99%, the 182-day paper increased by 66bps to close at 4.39% while the 364-day papers compressed by 1bp to close at 5.22%.
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, NGX ASI Sheds 12bps
- Bullish Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Positive Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Positive Performance in the Commodities Market
- Mixed Performance in African Stocks
