At the end of yesterday’s trading session, the Nigerian All Share Index closed negative, falling by 0.04% to close at 49,691.17 points.
The performance was due to sell pressure in large-cap stocks such as FBNH (-0.47%) and ZENITHBANK (-0.46%). Consequently, the YTD return decreased to 16.33% as market capitalisation declined by ₦9.87 billion to close at ₦26.80 trillion.
The sectoral performance weakened as three of the five indices under coverage declined, the Insurance index gained 0.86% on LASACO (+6.48%) while the Oil & Gas index closed flat. The Banking index, the biggest lagger, lost 0.21% on ZENITHBANK (-0.46%). The Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices followed suit, falling by 0.15% and 0.07% on OANDO (-1.02%) and PZ (-3.23%) respectively.
Investors’ sentiment strengthened but negative as the market breadth increased to 0.63x from 0.45x. This was illustrated by the advance of 10 stocks, led by PRESTIGE (+9.09%) and SOVRENINS (+8.00%) and the decline of 16 stocks, led by COURTVILLE (-9.80%) and SCOA (-9.79%). Activity level was mixed as the total volume declined by 36.92% while the total value improved by 151.45%, as investors exchanged about 128.79mn units of shares worth over ₦4.12bn.
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 bearish sentiment across the bond yield curve as two of the four bond yields under coverage closed higher, the FGN-MAR-2024 yield compressed by 1bp while the yield on the FGN-APR-2023 closed flat. The yields on the FGN-JAN-2026 and FGN-JUL-2030 bonds increased by 14bps and 3bps respectively.
The Treasury bill yields for the 91 and 182-day papers closed flat at 3.94% and 10.51% respectively while the 364-day paper compressed by 1bp to close at 6.80%.
We expect market activity to be influenced by the liquidity levels in the financial system.
MARKET SNAPSOT
- The Bears Outweigh the Bulls in the Local Bourse, NGX ASI Loses 16bps
- Bearish Sentiment across the Bond Yield Curve
- Negative Performance in Global Stocks
- Brent Crude Reports @ $93.09/barrel
- Negative Performance in African Stocks
