At the end of yesterday’s trading session, the Nigerian All Share Index extended its positive trajectory as the benchmark index advanced further by 0.72% to close at 47,205.03 points.
Yesterday’s performance was due to buying pressures in heavyweight stocks such as MTNN (+1.25%) and NB (+7.84%). Consequently, the YTD return increased to 10.51% as market capitalisation rose by ₦181.72 billion to close at ₦25.45 trillion.
The sectoral performance strengthened as four of the five indices under coverage improved. The Banking index, the biggest gainer, rose by 2.77% on ZENITHBANK (+5.83%). The Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas, and Industrial indices, followed suit, climbing up by 1.94%, 1.71%, and 0.10% on NB (+7.84%), SEPLAT (+2.60%), and CAP (+10.00%) respectively. The Insurance index, the only loser, declined by 1.35% on NEM (-0.50%).
Investors’ sentiment weakened as the market breadth decreased to 1.76x from 2.46x. This was illustrated by the decline of 17 stocks led by ACADEMY (-10.00%) and CAVERTON (-9.92%) and the advance of 30 stocks, led by CAP (+10.00%) and NEIMEITH (+9.86%). Activity level strengthened as the total volume and value increased by 9.25% and 19.80% respectively as investors exchanged about 245.44mn units of shares worth over N4.58bn.
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 flat, the FGN-APR-2023 compressed by 2bps while the FGN-JUL-2030 bond paper inched higher by 1bp. The FGN-MAR-2024 and FGN-JAN-2026 yields closed flat.
Treasury bill yields for the 91-day paper closed flat at 1.88% while the yields on the 182 and 364-day papers inched up by 4bps and 17bps to close at 3.04% and 4.42% respectively.
We expect market activity to be influenced by the liquidity levels and foreign investors’ participation.
MARKET SNAPSHOT
- Positive Performance Persists in the Local Bourse, NGX ASI Gains 72bps
- Mixed Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Negative Performance in Global Stocks
- Commodities Market Closes in Green
- Positive Performance in African Stocks
