MON, 28 SEPT, 2020-theGBJournal-Bullish sentiments were sustained on the local bourse at the start of the week, as interest in MTNN (+2.0%), WAPCO (+6.3%) and FBNH (+3.9%) drove the ASI to its seventh consecutive gain. Thus, the benchmark index rose by 0.7% to 26,507.84 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date gain increased to 4.7% while the Year-to-Date loss moderated to -1.3%.
The total volume of trades increased by 0.3% to 336.83 million units, valued at NGN4.03 billion and exchanged in 4,602 deals. ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by volume and value at 89.51 million units and NGN1.55 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance mirrored the general market sentiment, as all sector indices posted positive returns. The Insurance (+1.8%) index recorded the highest gain, followed by the Oil & Gas (+1.3%), Consumer Goods (+0.5%), Industrial Goods (+0.5%) and Banking (+0.3%) indices.
Market sentiment, as measured by the market breadth, was positive (3.1x), as 22 tickers gained relative to 7 losers. TOTAL (+10.0%) and CHAMPION (+9.9%) topped the gainers’ list while UAC-PROP (-10.0%) and UPL (-6.3%) recorded the largest losses of the day.
Currency
The naira was flat at NGN386.00/USD and NGN467.00/USD at the I&E window and parallel market, respectively.
Money Market & Fixed Income
The overnight lending rate crashed by 750bps to 4.0%, in the absence of any significant outflows from the system.
Trading in the NTB secondary market was bullish, as the average yield pared by 1bp to 1.6%. Across the curve, average yield declined at the short (-1bp) and mid (-3bps) segments, due to demand for the 17DTM (-5bps) and 164DTM (-48bps) instruments, while they were flat at the long end. Elsewhere, average yield expanded by 3bps to 1.9% at the OMO secondary market.
At the Treasury bond secondary market, trading was bullish, as average yield pared by 2bps to 6.9%. Across the curve, average yield contracted at the short (-4bps) and long (-10bps) ends, following demand for the JUL-2021 (-17bps) and MAR-2050 (-26bps) bonds, respectively. Conversely, average yield at the mid (+13bps) segment expanded, due to sell-offs of the FEB-2028 (+43bps) bond.-With Cordros Research
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