At the end of yesterday’s trading session, the Nigerian equities market closed in green as the benchmark index improved by 0.02% to close at 45,939.51 points.
This was mainly due to buy pressures in bellwether stocks such as SEPLAT (+1.28%) and ETI (+9.94%). Consequently, the YTD return increased to 14.08% as market capitalisation improved by ₦6.06 billion to close at ₦24.76 trillion.
The sectoral performance marginally strengthened as three of the five indices under coverage improved. The Oil & Gas index, the biggest gainer, improved by 0.69% on SEPLAT (+1.28%). The Banking and Consumer Goods indices, followed suit, rising by 0.52% and 0.08% on ETI (+9.94%) and CHAMPION (+8.05%) respectively. On the flip side, the Insurance and Industrial indices, the laggers, declined by 0.88% and 0.03% on PRESTIGE (-9.80%) and WAPCO (-0.39%) respectively.
Investor sentiment closed positive as the market breadth increased to 1.27x from 0.58x. This was illustrated by the advance of 19 stocks, led by COURTVILLE (+10.00%) and ETI (+9.94%) and the decline of 15 stocks, led by CILEASING (-10.00%) and PRESTIGE (-9.80%). Activity level was mixed as the total volume declined by 11.10% while the total value increased by 23.90% as investors exchanged about 247.69 million units of shares worth over ₦3.58 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 bullish sentiment across the bond yield curve as all the 4 bond yields under coverage closed lower. The yields on the FGN-APR-2023, FGN-MAR-2024, FGN-JAN-2026 and FGN-JUL-2030 bond papers compressed by 44bps, 1bp, 18bps and 46bps 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
- Marginal Positive Performance Returns in the Local Bourse, NGX ASI Gains 2bps
- Bullish Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Mixed Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports at $86.21/barrel
