At the end of yesterday’s trading session, positive sentiment returned in the Nigerian equities market as the benchmark index increased by 0.43% to close at 46,205.02 points.
This was mainly due to buying interest in TOTAL (+8.61%) and SEPLAT (+0.51%). Consequently, the YTD return increased to 8.17% as market capitalisation increased by ₦105.52 million to close at ₦24.90 trillion.
The sectoral performance was largely positive as four of the five indices under coverage improved while the Industrial index, the only loser, declined marginally by 0.01% CUTIX (-4.00%). The Banking index, the biggest gainer, improved by 2.30% on ETI (+9.62%). The Oil and Gas, Insurance and Consumer goods indices, followed suit, rising by 2.22%, 1.61% and 0.81% respectively on TOTAL (+8.61%), NEM (+9.06%) and VITAFOAM (+9.91%).
Investor sentiment significantly strengthened as the market breadth increased to 5.57x from 1.53x. This was illustrated by the advance of 39 stocks, led by CORNEST (+10.00%) and VITAFOAM (+9.91%) and the decline of 7 stocks, led by UPL (-9.86%) and CHIPLC (-7.69%). Activity level strengthened as the total volume and value increased by 12.17% and 82.20% respectively as investors exchanged about 313.45 million units of shares worth over ₦5.03 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 bearish sentiment across the bond yield curve as 2 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed higher by 30bps and 16bps on FGN-MAR-2024 and FGN-JAN-2026 respectively. Conversely, the yield on FGN-JUL-2030 compressed by 20bps while the yield on FGN-APR-2023 closed flat.
Treasury bill yields for the 91-day paper closed flat at 4.04%, the 182-day paper increased by 6bps to close at 4.45% while the 364-day paper declined by 11bps to close at 5.11%.
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 Closes the Week in Green, NGX ASI Up 43bps
- Bearish Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Negative Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports at $90.83/barrel
- Mixed Performance in African Stocks`
