…Naira drops 0.2% to the UD$ at the I&E window
…Treasury bills and bonds secondary markets were bearish
MON. 27 FEB, 2023-theGBJournal| Nigerian equities extended gains from last week as the benchmark index closed 0.69% stronger to settle at 55,328.42 points after Monday’s trading session.
Buy interests in index heavyweight BUAFOODS (+4.65%), alongside Tier-1 banks, ZENITHBANK (+0.78%), GTCO (+1.96%) and STANBIC (+10.00%) kept the market in the green. As a result, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 7.96%, while market capitalization gained N206.58bn to close at N30.14trn.
Analysis of today’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 38.84%. A total of 149.78m shares valued at N1.54bn were exchanged in 3,186 deals. OANDO (+10.00%) led the volume chart with 62.64m units traded while ZENITHBANK (+0.78%) led the value chart in deals worth N205.55m.
Market breadth closed positive at a 2.11-to-1 ratio with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones. STANBIC (+10.00%) topped eighteen (18) others on the leader’s log while FTNCOCOA (-6.90%) led eight (8) others on the laggard’s table.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Treasury bills secondary market was bearish, as the average yield expanded by 5bps to 4.0%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+12bps) end due to the sell-off of the 17DTM (+85bps) bill but closed flat at the mid and long segments. Elsewhere, the average yield was flat at 3.8% in the OMO segment.
Similarly, the Treasury bonds secondary market traded with bearish sentiments, as the average yield expanded by 13bps to 13.0%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield advanced at the short (+24bps) and mid (+18bps) segments as investors sold off the MAR-2025 (+74bps) and APR-2029 (+25bps) bonds, respectively. Conversely, the average yield closed flat at the long end.
The overnight lending rate was unchanged at 10.8%, as system liquidity closed at a net long position (NGN717.60 billion).
The naira depreciated by 0.2% at N462.00/US$ at the I&E window.
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