The Nigerian All Share Index extended its positive performance yesterday, rising by 0.31% to close at 50,045.83 points. The performance was due to bargain hunting in large-cap stocks such as STANBIC (+6.45%) and MTNN (+0.05%).
Consequently, the YTD return increased to 17.16% as market capitalisation rose by ₦84.653 billion to close at ₦26.99 trillion.
The sectoral performance marginally strengthened as three of the five indices under coverage improved while the industrial index closed flat. The Banking index, the biggest gainer, improved by 0.90% on ZENITHBANK (+1.18%). The Insurance and Consumer Goods indices followed suit, rising by 0.85% and 0.38% on NEM (+1.00%) and NB (+3.30%) respectively. Conversely, the Oil & gas index, the only loser, fell by 0.05% on ARDOVA (-2.38%).
Investors’ sentiment strengthened as the market breadth increased to 2.30x from 1.17x. This was illustrated by the advance of 23 stocks, led by FCMB (+9.06%) and STANBIC (+6.45%) and the decline of 10 stocks, led by MCNICHOLS (-9.46%) and RTBRISCOE (-8.57%). Activity level strengthened as the total volume and value increased by 4.76% and 53.00%, as investors exchanged about 240.02mn units of shares worth over ₦2.68bn.
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 relatively quiet activity across the bond yield curve as three of the four bond yields under coverage closed flat while the yield on the FGN-MAR-2024 bond compressed by 1bp. The yields on the FGN-APR-2023, FGN-JAN-2026 and FGN-JUL-2030 bond papers closed flat at 7.04%, 12.95% and 12.82% respectively.
The Treasury bill yield for the 364-day paper compressed by 1bp to close at 6.78% while the 91 and 182-day paper yields closed flat at 11.55% and 6.50% respectively.
We expect market activity to be influenced by the liquidity levels in the financial system.
MARKET SNAPSHOT
- Domestic Bourse Closes the Week in Positive Territory, NGX ASI Up 31bps
- Quiet Activity Level across the Bond Yield Curve
- Positive Performance in Global Stocks
- Commodities Market Closes in Green
- Positive Performance in African Stocks
