TUE 05 APRIL, 2022-theGBJournal| n today’s trading session, bullish sentiments resurfaced in the domestic bourse, as bargain hunting in Tier-1 banking names — ZENITHBANK (+3.4%), GTCO (+2.5%), and SEPLAT (+2.1%) drove the benchmark index higher.
Precisely, the All-Share Index advanced by 0.2% to 46,777.37 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date loss moderated to -0.4%, while the Year-to-Date return increased to +9.5%.
The total volume of trades increased by 17.3% to 257.41 million units, valued at NGN2.34 billion, and exchanged in 4,410 deals. FIDELITYBK was the most traded stock by volume at 66.43 million units, while GTCO was the most traded stock by value at NGN341.23 million.
Performance across sectors was mixed, as the Banking (+1.7%) and Oil & Gas (+1.4%) indices advanced, while the Insurance (-0.9%), Consumer Goods (-0.3%), and Industrial Goods (-0.1%) indices declined.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x), as 20 tickers lost relative to 18 gainers. NPFMCRFBK (-9.6%) and LEARNAFRCA (-9.1%) topped the losers’ list, while MEYER (+8.9%) and REGALINS (+7.1%) recorded the highest gains of the day.
Currency
The naira depreciated by 0.1% to NGN416.83/USD at the I&E window.
Money & Fixed Income Market
The overnight lending rate contracted by 92bps to 6.3% in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
The Treasury bills secondary market traded in a lull as the average yield closed flat at 3.2%. Similarly, the average yield in the OMO segment was unchanged at 3.6%.
Trading in the Treasury bond secondary market was mixed, albeit with a bullish bias, as the average yield expanded by 2bps to 10.7%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-4bps) and mid (-5bps) segments as investors demanded the MAR-2027 (-15bps) and FEB-2028 (-11bps) bonds, respectively. Elsewhere, profit-taking on the MAR-2035 (+23bps) bond drove the expansion at the long (+9bps) end.
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