WED, MARCH 18 2020-theG&BJournal-Unlike in the past two trading sessions, performance in the domestic equities market was positive. Precisely, the NSE ASI advanced by 1.1% to 22,789.64 points, supported by buying interest in MTNN (+10.0%) and late interest in Tier I bank stocks. Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses moderated to -13.1% and -15.1%, respectively.
The total volume of trades decreased by 0.7% to 671.52 million units, valued at NGN10.58 billion and exchanged in 7,247 deals. GUARANTY was the most traded stock by volume and value at 177.75 million units and NGN3.52 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was mixed following gains in the Banking (+2.1%) and Oil and Gas (+0.8%) indices and losses in the Consumer Goods (-1.5%), Industrial Goods (-1.0%) and Insurance (-0.8%) indices.
Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was positive (1.4x), as 19 tickers gained, relative to 14 losers. MTNN (+10.0%) and LASACO (+10.0%) were the top gainers, while STERLNBANK (-10.0%) and CHAMS (-10.0%) recorded the largest declines of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira was flat at NGN380.00/USD in the parallel market but weakened by 0.1% to NGN368.02/USD at theI&E FX window.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 144bps to 11.2%, as system liquidity improved further to NGN295.00 billion.
Trading in the NTB secondary market was quiet as investors shifted focus towards today’s NTB PMA. However, average yield declined in the OMO secondary market by 31bps to 16.7%. At today’s NTB primary auction, the CBN fully allotted NGN47.57 billion worth of bills – NGN2.00 billion of the 91-day, NGN8.39 billion of the 182-day and NGN37.18 billion of the 364-day – at respective stop rates of 2.30% (previously 2.49%), 3.40% (previously 3.78%), and 4.60% (previously 5.30%).
Trading in the Treasury bond secondary market was bullish, as average yield contracted by 17bps to 11.6%. Across the curve, yields contracted across the mid (-45bps) and long (-14bps) segments of the curve, following buying interest in the APR-2029 (-88bps) and APR-2049 (-56bps) bonds, respectively. Conversely, a selloff of the JAN-2022 (+56bps) bond led to yield expansion at the short (+8bps) end of the curve.- With Cordros Research
|twitter:@theGBJournal|email: info@govandbusinessjournal.com.ng|
