At the end of yesterday’s trading session, the Nigerian equities market closed negative as the benchmark index decreased by 0.08% to close at 47,207.27 points.
Yesterday`s performance was due to profit-taking in large-cap stocks such as FLOURMILL (-1.49%) and STANBIC (-1.00%). Consequently, the YTD return declined to 10.51% as market capitalisation declined by ₦21.39 billion to close at ₦25.44 trillion.
The sectoral performance marginally weakened as three of the five indices under coverage declined. The Consumer goods index, the biggest loser, decreased by 0.58% on FLOURMILL (-1.49%). The Banking and Industrial Indices followed suit, falling by 0.35% and 0.02% on STANBIC (-1.00%) and WAPCO (-0.38%) respectively. Conversely, the Insurance and Oil and Gas indices, the gainers, improved by 0.91% and 0.03% on MANSARD (+5.11%) and ARDOVA (+0.78%) respectively.
Investors sentiment strengthened as the market breadth increased to 1.63x from 1.61x. This was illustrated by the advance of 26 stocks, led by ETRANZACT (+10.00%) and RTBRISCOE (+9.72%) and the decline of 16 stocks, led by AFRIPRUD (-5.77%) and DANGSUGAR (-5.28%). Activity level weakened as the total volume and value decreased by 45.32% and 32.24% as investors exchanged about 230.66 million units of shares worth over ₦3.49 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 mixed sentiment across the bond yield curve as two of the four bond yields under coverage closed lower, the yield on the FGN-MAR-2024 closed flat while the yield on the FGN-JUL-2030 increased by 109bps. The yields on the FGN-APR-2023 and FGN-JAN-2026 compressed by 1bp and 4bps respectively.
Treasury bill yields for the 91 and 364-day paper yields closed flat at 3.15% and 4.44% while the 182-day yield compressed by 108bps to close at 3.56%.
We expect market activity to be influenced by the liquidity levels and foreign investors’ participation.
MARKET SNAPSHOT
- Bear Outweights the Bull in the Local Bourse, NGX ASI Loses 8bps
- Mixed Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Mixed Performance in Global Stocks
- Commodity Market Closed in Red
- Negative Performance in African Stocks
