…Treasury bills average yield settles 2bps down to 20.7%
THUR MAY 29 2025-theGBJournal| The benchmark All-Share Index (ASI) fell on Thursday, led by SEPLAT, OANDO and ACCESSCORP with gains restricted as investors take profit.
Market capitalization equally reversed some gains from the prior session, as the benchmark index lost 0.08% to 111,818.08 points and N70.51 trillion respectively.
ZENITHBANK (+0.10%), HONYFLOUR (+9.52%) and FIDELITYBK (+4.86%) shares gained despite the markets weak performance, and this brought the ASI year-to-date down to 8.64% from 8.72% in the previous trading session.
The total volume of trades increased by 8.7% to 556.45 million units, valued at N17.17 billion, and exchanged in 18,505 deals. UBA was the most traded stock by volume and value at 82.57 million units and N2.86 billion, respectively.
The Consumer Goods (+0.9%) and Banking (+0.3%) indices advanced, while the Oil & Gas (-5.0%) and Insurance (-0.2%) indices declined.
The Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.6x), as 39 tickers gained relative to 24 losers.
MBENEFIT (+10.0%) and UPL (+10.0%) led the gainers, while SEPLAT (-10.0%) and LEGENDINT (-10.0%) recorded the most significant losses of the day.
The NASD Securities Index (NSI) and market capitalisation maintained its bullish stance, gaining 0.43% to close at 3244.7 points and N1.90trn respectively.
However, trade volume and value plummeted by 99.78% to 1.17m and 99.80% to N9.05m respectively. Number of deals also dropped by 61.22% to 19 deals.
At the FX market, the official FX rate recovered some ground after dipping 0.6% to N1,585.00/US$1 on Wednesday.
The currency firmed by 0.3% to N1,580.00/US$1 on Thursday.
In the parallel market, the naira fell, amid reduced external reserves and ongoing FX pressure.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injected $50 million into the market following a $190 million intervention last week, aiming to maintain liquidity rather than anchor the exchange rate.
Nigeria’s external reserves fell to $38.518 billion due to consistent FX outflows linked to interventions, despite recent inflows from exporters.
Meanwhile, treasury bills average yield contracted by 2bps to 20.7%.
Across the curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bp), mid (-1bp) and long (-3bps) segments, due to buying interest in the 84DTM (-1bp), 175DTM (-1bp) and 280DTM (-10bps) bills, respectively.
In contrast, the average yield expanded by 4bps to 26.1% in the OMO segment.
Elsewhere, the Treasury bond secondary market traded with bullish sentiments, as the average yield contracted by 7bps to 18.6%.
Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-15bps) and mid (-8bps) segments, driven by the demand for the JUL-2030 (-40bps) and FEB-2031 (-42bps) bonds, respectively.
The average yield remained unchanged at the long end.
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