THUR 19 AUG, 2021-theGBJournal- Trading in the local bourse was negative for most of the day; however, late demand for bellwether stock — MTNN (+2.6%) ensured the market closed higher. Consequently, the NGX ASI edged up by 0.3% to 39,670.29 points. Accordingly, Month-to-Date gain rose to +2.9%, while Year-to-Date loss moderated to -1.5%.
The total volume of trades increased by 52.8% to 201.84 million units, valued at NGN1.68 billion, and exchanged in 3,274 deals. COURTVILLE was the most traded stock by volume at 34.83 million units, while MTNN was the most traded stock by value at NGN543.79 million.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative, as the Consumer Goods (-1.7%), Oil and Gas (-0.1%) and Banking (-0.1%) indices declined. However, the Insurance (+0.8%) and Industrial Goods (+0.2) indices were positive.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.6x), as 23 tickers gained, relative to 14 losers. NEIMETH (+10.0%) and NAHCO (+10.0%) topped the gainers’ list, while NB (-8.8%) and CHIPLC (-6.7%) recorded the most significant losses of the day.
Meanwhile, the naira traded flat at NGN411.67/USD at the I&E window but depreciated by 0.6% to NGN520.00/USD at the parallel market.
At the Money Market, the overnight lending rate expanded by 58bps to 18.3% following outflows for CBN’s weekly OMO auction.
The NTB secondary market traded flat, as the average yield stayed at 4.6%. Elsewhere, the average yield at the OMO segment plummeted by 162bps to 6.0%.
Trading in the Treasury bond secondary market ended on a bullish note, as the average yield contracted by 14bps to 11.3%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-11bps), mid (-30bps) and long (-8bps) segments following demand for the MAR-2024 (-38bps), FEB-2028 (-39bps) and MAR-2036 (-24bps) bonds, respectively.
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