…The Treasury bills secondary market traded with bullish sentiments, as the average yield contracted by 6bps to 18.5%.
TUE, MAR 19 2024-theGBJournal| Sentiments in the Nigerian equities market remained bearish as sustained profit-taking activities in MTNN (-3.0%) offset the bargain hunting in FBNH (+9.1%).
As a result, the NGX ASI declined by 0.1% to close at 104,553.31 points, with the MTD and YTD returns reducing further to +4.6% and +39.8%, respectively.
The total volume of trades increased by 6.8% to 307.05 million units, valued at N7.59 billion, and exchanged in 9,548 deals. FBNH was the most traded stock by volume and value at 37.81 million units and N1.57 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was broadly positive, as the Banking (+1.1%), Insurance (+0.6%), Consumer Goods (+0.2%) and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices advanced, while the Oil & Gas index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.1x), as 25 tickers gained relative to 23 losers. INTENEGINS (+10.0%) and INTBREW (+9.9%) recorded the most significant gains of the day, while DAARCOMM (-9.9%) and CWG (-9.1%) topped the losers’ list.
At the Forex market, the naira appreciated by 0.8% to N1,560.57/USD at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
Meanwhile, the overnight lending rate contracted by 170bps to 28.8%, in the absence of any significant inflows into the system.
The Treasury bills secondary market traded with bullish sentiments, as the average yield contracted by 6bps to 18.5%.
Across the curve, the average yield dipped at the short (-1bp), mid (-18bps) and long (-1bp) segments due to demand for the 79DTM (-1bp), 170DTM (-120bps) and 324DTM (-2bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield pared by 1bp to 18.8% in the OMO segment.
Activities in the Treasury bond secondary market remained bearish, as the average yield advanced by 13bps to 18.5%.
Across the benchmark curve, the average yield was flat at the short and long ends but increased at the mid (+63bps) segment following sell pressures on the FEB-2031 (+150bps) bond.
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