…Proceedings in the FGN bond secondary market were quiet, albeit with a bullish tilt as the average yield declined by 1bp to 18.2%.
THUR MARCH 13 2025-theGBJournal| Nigerian equities market closed bullish Thursday as sell pressure eased dramatically off.
Huge gains were seen in shares of INTBREW (+9.6%) and NB (+3.2%) which aided in the benchmark index 0.1% climb to 106,220.94 points.
The market capitalization also increased by 0.12% to N66.52 trillion, but overall sentiment remains cautious
The Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -1.5% and +3.2%, respectively.
The total trading volume fell by 77.8% to 332.76 million units, valued at N16.51 billion, and exchanged in 11,059 deals.
TANTALIZER was the most traded stock by volume at 29.62 million units, while GEREGU was the most traded stock by value at N7.77 billion, respectively.
Analysing by sectors, the Consumer Goods (+1.4%), Insurance (+0.6%) and Oil & Gas (+0.1%) indices gained, while the Banking (-0.5%) index declined. The Industrial Goods index remained flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.7x), as 34 tickers gained relative to 20 losers. UPDC (+9.9%) and INTBREW (+9.6%) led the gainers, while UPL (-10.0%) and ACADEMY (-9.7%) recorded the highest losses of the day.
The NASD OTC market experienced a marginal decline as the NSI dropped to 3,384.2 (-0.04%), alongside a slight dip in market capitalization to N1.95 trillion (-0.04%), indicating mild bearish sentiment.
Despite the decline in index and market cap, trading activity surged, with volume skyrocketing by 1,204.49% to 3.89 m shares, and value traded jumping 126.89% to N23.62 m, though the number of trades fell by 32% to 17 deals, suggesting concentrated transactions in fewer trades.
SDGEFLUID led the gainers’ log, advancing 6.78% to close at 3.15, while SDFCWAMCO topped the laggards, declining 5.02% to settle at 35.57.
Meanwhile, the official FX rate depreciated by 0.6% to N1,550.36/US$, despite Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) $59.7 million intervention, while parallel market rates fell to N1,580/US$ due to tight liquidity and high demand.
The reversal of February’s gains is linked to foreign capital outflows, debt service payments, and limited FX supply, pressuring the exchange rate.
Analysts expect short-term volatility but remain optimistic about stabilization if the government strengthens economic policies and boosts FX inflows
At the fixed income market, the Treasury bills secondary market was bearish, as the average yield increased by 2bps to 19.0%.
Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-1bp) and mid (-1bp) segments, driven by demand for the 84DTM (-1bp) and 175DTM (-1bp) bills, respectively, while it increased at the long (+5bps) end following selloffs of the 182DTM (+72bps) bill. Conversely, the average yield declined by 1bp to 22.4% in the OMO segment.
Proceedings in the FGN bond secondary market were quiet, albeit with a bullish tilt as the average yield declined by 1bp to 18.2%.
Across the benchmark curve, the average yield decreased at the long (-2bps) end driven by demand for the JUN-2053 (-14bps) bond, while it closed flat at the short and mid segments.
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