At the end of yesterday’s trading session, the Nigerian equities market closed negative as the benchmark index decreased by 0.11% to close at 47,279.92 points. Yesterday`s performance was due to profit-taking in large caps such as PRESCO (-10.00%) and FBNH (-2.63%). Consequently, the YTD return decreased to 10.68% as market capitalisation decreased by ₦26.88 billion to close at ₦25.48 trillion.
The sectoral performance marginally weakened as three of the five indices under coverage declined. The Insurance index, the biggest loser declined by 0.90% on NEM (-9.76%). The Consumer goods and Oil and Gas indices followed suit, decreasing by 0.58% and 0.24% on FLOURMILL (-0.85%) and ARDOVA (-1.93%) respectively. Conversely, the Banking and Industrial indices improved by 0.18% and 0.01% on ZENITHBANK (+0.76%) and WAPCO (+0.19%).
Investor sentiment weakened as the market breadth declined to 0.75x from 1.20x. This was illustrated by the advance of 18 stocks, led by SCOA (+9.65%) and LIVINGTRUST (+8.77%) and the decline of 24 stocks, led by PRESCO (-10.00%) and NEM (-9.76%). Activity level weakened as the total volume and value declined by 34.90% and 37.79% respectively as investors exchanged about 225.69 million units of shares worth over ₦2.39 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 3 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed lower. The yields on the FGN-APR-2023, FGN-MAR-2024 and FGN-JUL-2030 bond papers decreased by 1bp, 1bp and 10bps respectively while the yield on the FGN-JAN-2026 increased by 44bps. Treasury bill yields for the 91, 182 and 364-day papers closed flat at 4.04%, 4.45% and 5.10% 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 Closes the week in Red, NGX ASI Sheds 11bps
- Bullish Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Negative Sentiment in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports at $91.11/barrel
- Mixed Performance in African Stocks
