MON 21 MARCH, 2022-theGBJournal| Trading in the domestic equities market kicked off the week on a negative note as profit-taking activities witnessed in UBA (-1.3%) caused a 0.1% decline in the benchmark index.
Thus, the All-Share Index closed at 47,251.93 points. Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to -0.3% and +10.6%, respectively.
The total volume traded declined by 64.4% to 213.57 million units, valued at NGN2.68 billion, and exchanged in 4,485 deals. ACCESS was the most traded stock by volume at 27.19 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN534.68 million.
On sectors, the Banking (-0.9%) and Insurance (-0.7%) indices printed losses, while the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat. The Consumer Goods (+0.5%) index was the sole gainer of the day.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.7x) as 15 tickers gained relative to 21 losers. RTBRISCOE (-10.0%) and BERGER (-9.6%) recorded the highest losses of the day, while GUINNESS (+10.0%) and ROYALEX (+8.3%) topped the gainers’ list.
Currency
The naira appreciated by 0.1% to NGN416.25/USD at the I&E window.
Money & Fixed Income Market
The overnight lending rate was unchanged at 9.7%, in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
Trading in the NTB secondary market was mixed albeit with a bullish tilt, as the average yield pared by 1bp to 3.3%. Across the curve, the average yield was unchanged at the short end but contracted slightly at the mid (-1bp) and long (-1bp) segments following buying interests in the 171DTM (-3bps) and 220DTM (-1bp) bills, respectively. Elsewhere, the average yield was flat at 3.6% in the OMO segment.
The Treasury bond secondary market also traded with mixed sentiments although with bullish tilt, as the average yield pared by 1bp to 10.4%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield pared at short (-4bps) end as investors demanded the JAN-2026 (-7bps) bond but was unchanged at the mid and long segments. A
t this month’s bond auction, the DMO offered instruments worth NGN150.00 billion to investors through re-openings of the 12.50% FGN JAN 2026 (Bid-to-offer: 3.1x; Stop rate: 10.15%, previously 10.95%) and 13.00% FGN JAN 2042 (Bid-to-offer: 4.9x; Stop rate: 12.70%, previously 13.00%) bonds.
As anticipated, demand was strong and higher (subscription level: NGN598.42 billion; bid-to-offer: 4.0x) than February’s auction (subscription level: NGN557.72 billion; bid-to-offer: 3.7x). The DMO eventually over-allotted instruments worth NGN296.37 billion, resulting in a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.0x.
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