…The NASD OTC market reversed gains from the previous session
…The overnight lending rate contracted by 9bps to 24.8%.
FRI NOV 21 2025-theGBJournal| Nigerian equities market fell on Thursday after banking stocks lost more grounds and investors apathy dimmed hope of a further rate cut by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
For the fourth consecutive session this week, the NGX All Share Index (ASI) fell, dropping 0.32% to close at 144,187.03 points.
The year-to-date (YTD) return eased to 40.09% from the 40.53% in the previous session. Market capitalisation also shed N291.94 billion, to settle at N91.71 trillion.
The negative sentiment was driven by selloffs in large-cap stocks such as UBA (-2.63%), OANDO (-5.59%), WEMABANK (-8.6%) and ACCESSCORP (-3.00%), outweighing buying interest in select banking names including, ZENITHBANK (+0.59%), FIRSTHOLDCO (+0.33%), and FCMB (+1.42%).
Sectoral performance was largely negative with all major indexes closing in the red. The Insurance Index (-3.82%) led the decliners, followed by the Banking (-1.06%), Oil % Gas (-0.40%), and Industrial Goods (-0.01%) indices.
Market activity was significantly down, with the transaction volume and value lower by 60.87% and 60.51%, respectively. FIDELITYBK (-0.78%) led the volume chart with 54.26mn units, while GTCO (-0.71%) topped the value chart with N2.15bn worth of trades.
Market breadth closed negative at 0.37x, indicating more decliners than gainers. NCR (+10.00%) led the fourteen (14) gainers, while TANTALIZER (-9.75%) led the thirty-eight (38) losers.
The NASD OTC market reversed gains from the previous session, as the NASD Securities Index (NSI) and market capitalisation declining by 0.73%, closing at 3605.94 points and N2.16 trillion, respectively.
Market activity improved considerably, as the transacting volume and transaction value surged by 1,154.45% and 565.24%, respectively.
SDAIRLIQ (+9.09%) led the gainers’ table, while SDACORN (-11.11%) topped the decliners in today’s session.
Meanwhile, the Naira firmed against the U.S. dollar after losing some ground on signs of price stability.
The official FX rate rose by 0.3% from N1,455.00/US$1 to N1,450.00/US$1 on Thursday.
At the fixed income market, the NTB secondary market traded on a bullish note on Thursday, with the average yield contracting by 6bps to 16.9%.
Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-1bp) and long (-14bps) segments, driven by demand for the 91DTM (-1bp), 182DTM (-3bps) and 245DTM (-86bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield contracted by 1bp to 21.5% in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, the FGN bond secondary market traded on a calm note, albeit with a bearish tilt, as the average yield expanded by 1bp to 15.4%.
Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the mid (+4bps) segment, due to the sell-off of the JUN-2033 (+15bps) bond, while it closed flat at the short and long ends.
The overnight lending rate contracted by 9bps to 24.8%.
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