THUR 29 APRIL, 2021-theGBJournal- Trading in the domestic equities market was negative for most of the day. However, late interest in bellwethers, DANGCEM (+7.8%) and MTNN (+3.9%) ensured the market closed higher with the benchmark index inching up by 1.8% to 39,461.61 points.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date gain increased to +1.1%, while Year-to-Date loss moderated to -2.0%.
The total volume of trades increased by 4.3% to 270.68 million units, valued at NGN2.03 billion, and exchanged in 3,897 deals. FBNH was the most traded stock by volume and value at 51.52 million units and NGN359.83 million, respectively.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Industrial Goods (+3.6%) and Insurance (+1.4%) indices gained while the Banking (-1.4%) and Consumer Goods (-0.2%) indices declined. The Oil & Gas index traded flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.3x), as 22 tickers gained, relative to 17 losers. FIDSON (+10.0%) and JBERGER (+10.0%) were the top gainers of the day, while CWG (-9.8%) and MBENEFIT (-7.5%) were the top losers of the day.
Currency
The naira appreciated at the I&E window by 0.1% to NGN411.00/USD but was unchanged at NGN485.00/USD in the parallel market.
Money Market and Fixed Income
The overnight lending rate expanded by 75bps to 16.0%, following outflows from the system for OMO bills auction and NTB net issuances (NGN41.00 billion).
The NTB secondary market was mixed, as the average yield stayed flat at 4.7%. Elsewhere, the OMO segment’s average yield expanded slightly by 1bp to 7.9%.
Trading in the Treasury bond secondary market ended on a bearish note, as the average yield expanded by 4bps to 11.8%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+8bps) and long (+11bps) ends due to sell-offs of the JAN-2026 (+47bps) and MAR-2050 (+18bps) bonds, respectively; the mid segment was flat.-With Cordros Research
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