The Nigerian equities market closed negative at the end of today’s trading session as the benchmark index declined by 0.06% to close at 45,928.27 points.
This was mainly due to sell pressures in bellwether stocks such as NB (-1.46%) and ZENITHBANK (-0.78%). Consequently, the YTD return decreased to 14.05% as market capitalisation declined by ₦11.88 billion to close at ₦24.75 trillion.
The sectoral performance significantly weakened as four of the five indices under coverage declined while the Oil & Gas index, the only gainer, improved by 1.67% on SEPLAT (+3.30%). The Insurance index, the biggest loser, declined by 1.44% on NEM (-5.41%). The Banking, Consumer Goods and Industrial indices, followed suit, declining by 0.45%, 0.23% and 0.01% on ZENITHBANK (-0.78%), NB (-1.46%) and CUTIX (-4.00%) respectively.
Investor sentiment weakened as the market breadth decreased to 0.58x from 1.50x. This was illustrated by the advance of 15 stocks, led by LIVINGTRUST (+9.62%) and NNFM (+9.49%) and the decline of 26 stocks, led by REGALINS (-9.52%) and FTNCOCOA (-7.69%). Activity level was mixed as the total volume declined by 1.06% while the total value increased by 19.71% as investors exchanged about 278.61 million units of shares worth over ₦2.89 billion.
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 3 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed lower while the yield on FGN-JUL-2030 closed flat at 12.62%. The yields on the FGN-APR-2023, FGN-MAR-2024 and FGN-JAN-2026 bond papers compressed by 3bps, 1bp and 24bps 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
- Local Bourse Starts the Week in Red, NGX ASI Sheds 6bps
- Bullish Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Negative Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports at $84.94/barrel
- Negative Performance in African Stocks
