…Treasury bills secondary and FGN Bonds market were bearish
THURS. 16 MARCH 2023-theGBJournal | Bearish sentiment kept the pressure on the Nigeria equities market as it extended its losing streak for the fifth successive session Thursday.
The benchmark Index at the end of the trading session tumbled by 1.04% to settle at 54,915.61 points.
Bearish sentiment in telco heavyweight, MTNN (-4.95%) alongside GTCO (-1.20%) and WAPCO (-1.96%) drove the market’s weak performance. Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return fell to 7.15%, with market capitalization losing N313.02bn to close at N29.92trn.
Market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 55.66%.
A total of 137.29m shares valued at N1.51bn were exchanged in 3,489 deals. TRANSCORP (-4.44%) led the volume chart with 26.09m units traded, while ZENITHBANK (+2.52%) led the value chart in deals worth N353.89m.
Market breadth closed negative at a 2.83-to-1 ratio, with declining issues outnumbering advancing ones. ETI (-10.00%) topped sixteen others on the laggard’s log, while CHAMS (+8.70%) led five others on the leader’s table.
Dividend Information
| Company | Dividend (Bonus) | Closure Date | Payment Date |
| BUACEMENT | N2.80 (final) | 11-Aug-23 | 24-Aug-23 |
| NESTLE | N36.50 (final) | 28-Apr-23 | 18-May-23 |
| SEPLAT | $0.075 (final) | 19-Apr-23 | 10-May-23 |
| WAPCO | N2.00 (final) | 11-Apr-23 | 28-Apr-23 |
| NB | N1.03 (final) | 17-Mar-23 | 26-Apr-23 |
| DANGCEM | N20.00 (final) | 31-Mar-23 | 24-Apr-23 |
| MTNN | N10.00 (final) | 28-Mar-23 | 20-Apr-23 |
The naira depreciated by 0.2% to N462.00/USD at the I&E window.
The overnight lending rate was unchanged at 11.0%, as the system liquidity closed at a net long position (N574.03 billion).
Activities in the Treasury bills secondary market were bearish, as the average yield expanded by 4bps to 4.4%.
Across the curve, the average yield was flat at the short and mid segments but expanded at the long (+7bps) end as participants sold off the 182DTM (+62bps). Elsewhere, the average yield was flat at 3.0% in the OMO segment.
Similarly, trading in the FGN bond secondary market was bearish, as the average yield expanded by 5bps to 12.9%.
Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+30bps) end, due to the selloff of the MAR-2024 (+198bps) bond but contracted at the mid (-31bps) and long (-1bp) segments as investors demanded the APR-2032 (-49bps) and JUL-2045 (-3bps) bonds, respectively.
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