MON 19 APRIL, 2021-theGBJournal- The domestic equities market opened the week with positive trading, following bargain buying in GUARANTY (+1.2%) and MTNN (+0.2%) stocks. Pertinently, the All-Share Index advanced by 0.1% to 38,854.73 points. Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses moderated to -0.5% and -3.5%, respectively.
The total volume of trades increased by 93.8% to 508.63 million units, valued at NGN32.10 billion, and exchanged in 4,324 deals. MTNN was the most traded stock by volume and value at 181.73 million units and NGN29.68 billion, respectively.
Performance across sectors was broadly positive, following gains in the Insurance (+0.4%), Banking (+0.3%), Oil & gas (+0.2%), and Consumer Goods (+0.1%) indices. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.5x), as 18 tickers gained, relative to 12 losers. FCMB (+9.8%) and NNFM (+9.4%) recorded the most significant gains of the day, while FTNCOCOA (-10.0%) and UNITYBNK (-7.8%) topped the losers’ list.
Currency
The naira appreciated at the I&E window by 0.2% to NGN410.33/USD but stayed flat at NGN482.00/USD in the parallel market.
Money Market & Fixed Income
The overnight lending rate contracted by 15.83 ppts to 12.5%, in the absence of significant funding pressures on the system.
Activity in the NTB secondary market activity was bearish, as the average yield expanded by 16bps to 4.5%. Across the curve, the average yield was flat at the short end but expanded at the mid (+1bp) and long (+32bps) segments, following sell-offs of the 178DTM (+9bps) and 325DTM (+60bps) instruments, respectively. Elsewhere, the OMO segment’s average yield was flat at 7.2%.
Trading in the Treasury bond secondary market ended on a bullish note, as the average yield pared by 2bps to 11.3%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield was flat at the short end but contracted at the mid (-4bps) and long (-3bps) segments due to demand for the MAR-2027 (-9bps) and JUL-2045 (-15bps) bonds, respectively.
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