The Nigerian equities market closed positive at the end of today’s trading session as the benchmark index improved by 1.01% to close at 45,890.52 points.
This was mainly due to buy pressures in bellwether stocks such as DANGCEM (+5.52%) and ZENITHBANK (+0.19%). Consequently, the YTD return increased to 13.96% as market capitalisation improved by ₦248.04 billion to close at ₦24.72 trillion.
The sectoral performance marginally strengthened as three of the five indices under coverage improved. The Industrial index, the biggest gainer, improved by 2.72% on DANGCEM (+5.52%). The Insurance and Banking indices, followed suit, increasing by 0.52% and 0.36% on LINKASSURE (+7.55%) and ZENITHBANK (+0.19%) respectively. Conversely, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices, the losers, declined by 0.17% and 0.09% on DANGSUGAR (-2.74%) and ARDOVA (-2.60%) respectively.
Investor sentiment strengthened as the market breadth increased to 3.00x from 0.94x. This was illustrated by the advance of 27 stocks, led by NNFM (+9.92%) and LEARNAFRCA (+9.32%) and the decline of 9 stocks, led by DANGSUGAR (-2.74%) and STANBIC (-2.70%). Activity level strengthened as the total volume and value increased by 245.34% and 253.41% as investors exchanged about 873.49million units of shares worth over ₦31.54billion.
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 quiet activity across the bond yield curve as 3 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed flat while the yield on FGN-APR-2023 compressed by 3bps. The yields on the FGN-MAR-2024, FGN-JAN-2026 and FGN-JUL-2030 bond papers closed flat at 9.04%, 11.47% and 12.62% respectively.
Treasury bill yields for the 91, 182 and 364-day closed flat at 2.99%, 4.39% and 5.22% 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 Trajcetory Persists in the Local Bourse, NGX ASI Up 101bps
- Quiet Activity across the Bond Yield Curve
- Positive Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports at $89.10/barrel
- Positive Performance in African Stocks
