At the end of yesterday’s trading session, the domestic bourse closed in red as the benchmark index declined by 0.38% to close at 46,930.66 points. Yesterday’s performance was due to selloffs in large caps such as MTNN (-1.23%) and ZENITHBANK (-3.11%). Consequently, the YTD return decreased to 9.87% as market capitalisation decreased by ₦97.30 million to close at ₦25.29 trillion.
The sectoral performance marginally weakened as three of the five indices under coverage declined, the Consumer goods closed flat while the Oil & Gas index, the only gainer, improved by 0.62% on SEPLAT (+0.36%). The Insurance index, the biggest loser, declined by 1.85% on AIICO (-4.05%). The Banking and Industrial indices followed suit, declining by 1.39% and 0.17% on ZENITHBANK (-3.41%) and NB (-0.93%) respectively.
Investor sentiment weakened as the market breadth declined to 0.64x from 1.75x. This was illustrated by the advance of 21 stocks, led by IKEJAHOTEL (+10.00%) and CONOIL (+9.96%) and the decline of 33 stocks, led by ABCTRANS (-8.33%) and COURTVILLE (-6.90%). Activity level was mixed as the total volume improved by 27.36% while the total value decreased by 69.64% as investors exchanged about 434.95 million units of shares worth over ₦6.26 billion.
We expect positive sentiment to return 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 2 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed lower, the yield on the FGN-JAN-2026 increased by 24bps while the yield of FGN-MAR-2024 closed flat at 8.75%. The yields on the FGN-APR-2023 and FGN-JUL-2030 bond papers decreased by 1bp and 28bps.
Treasury bill yields for the 91 and 182-day papers closed flat at 4.04% and 4.45% respectively while the 364-day paper declined by 61bps 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
- Negative Performance in the Local Bourse, NGX ASI Sheds 38bps
- Bullish Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Positive Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports at $88.86/barr
