Yesterday’s trading session saw the Nigerian equities market close in red as the benchmark index declined by 0.15%. Yesterday’s performance was due to selloffs in large-cap stocks such as ZENITHBANK (-2.28%) and ARDOVA (-3.35%).
Consequently, the YTD return decreased to 9.78% as market capitalisation fell by 37.93 billion to close at ₦25.27 trillion.
The sectoral performance marginally weakened as three of the five indices under coverage declined. The Banking index, the biggest loser, decreased by 4.42% on ZENITHBANK (-2.28%). The Insurance and Oil and Gas Indices followed suit, falling by 0.30% and 0.12% on AIICO (-4.29%) and ARDOVA (-3.53%) respectively. Conversely, the Consumer and Industrial indices, the gainers, improved by 0.18% and 0.06% on PZ (+9.68%) and WAPCO (+0.21%) respectively.
Investors’ sentiment strengthened but flattish as the market breadth increased to 1.00x from 0.94x. This was illustrated by the advance of 18 stocks, led by BETAGAS (+9.92%) and PZ (+9.68%) and the decline of 18 stocks, led by LEARNAFRCA (-9.68%) and UNITYBNK (-8.16%). Activity level was mixed as the total volume improved by 103.22% while the total value declined by 37.54% as investors exchanged about 359.89mn units of shares worth over ₦2.61bn.
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 mixed sentiment across the bond yield curve as two of the four bond yields under coverage closed lower while the yields on the FGN-JAN-2026 and FGN-JUL-2030 closed flat. The yields on the FGN-APR-2023 and FGN-MAR-2024 compressed by 6bps and 2bps respectively.
Treasury bill yields for the 182 and 364-day papers closed flat at 3.04% and 4.02% respectively, while the 91-day bond yield compressed by 1bp to close at 1.88%.
We expect market activity to be influenced by the liquidity levels and foreign investors’ participation.
MARKET SNAPSHOT
- Domestic Bourse Starts the Week in Red, NGX ASI Sheds 15bps
- Mixed Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Mixed Performance in Global Stocks
- Commodities Market Closes in Red
- Negative Performance in African Stocks
