At the end of yesterday’s trading session, the Nigerian equities market closed positive as the benchmark index improved by 0.91% to close at 46,624.67 points. This was mainly due to buying interest in PRESCO (+9.97%) and MTNN (+3.95%).
Consequently, the YTD return increased to 9.15% as market capitalization improved by ₦224.02 million to close at ₦25.13 trillion.
The sectoral performance was largely positive as three of the five indices under coverage improved. The Industrial index, the biggest gainer, improved by 0.47% on BUACEMENT (1.14%). The Banking and Oil and Gas indices, followed suit, improving by 0.43% and 0.32% on ZENITHBANK (1.17%) and OANDO (2.16%) respectively. On the flip side, the Insurance and the Consumer goods indices, the losers, declined by 0.20% and 0.23% on LINKASSURE (-7.84%) and NASCON (-1.50%) respectively.
Investor sentiment strengthened but lower than the previous trading session as the market breadth declined to 1.44x from 5.57x. This was illustrated by the advance of 33 stocks, led by CHIPLC (+10.00%) and PRESCO (+9.97%) and the decline of 23 stocks, led by UPL (-9.43%) and LASACO (-8.53%). Activity level was mixed as the total volume increased by 39.03% while the total value declined by 28.55% as investors exchanged about 435.79 million units of shares worth over ₦3.44 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 quiet activity across the bond yield curve as 2 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed flat, the yield on the FGN-APR-2023 papers compressed by 3bps while the FGN-JUL-2030 bond yield increased by 2bps. The yields on the FGN-JAN-2026 and FGN-MAR-2024 bond papers closed flat at 8.78% and 11.00% respectively.
Treasury bill yields for the 91 and 182-day closed flat at 4.04% and 4.45% respectively while the 364-day paper compressed by 1bp to close at 5.10%.
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 Green, NGX ASI Up 91bps
- Quiet Activity across the Bond Yield Curve
- Positive Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports at $88.40/barrel
- Positive Performance in African Stocks
