EQUITIES:  

• The benchmark NSE-ASI closed in the red for the third day in a row as investors’ outlook turned negative on stocks across sectors. Consequently, the index shed -0.58% to berth at 25,478.06pts, corresponding to a market capitalisation of c.N8.82trillion.
• Sell-off on MOBIL (-35.69pts), GUARANTY (-29.99pts) and DANGCEM (-29.76pts) was largely responsible for today’s negative close in the index offsetting the gain in INTERBREW (+7.8pts), FIDELITY (+6.75pts) and UBA (+5.28pts).
• Following bulk trades of over 292m units of FIDELITY Bank stocks, market turnover strengthened   as investors exchange over 402m units of stocks valued at c.N1.93b in 3,459 deals. This represents +110% and +229% jump in both volume and value traded.
• In today’s session, there were 16 gainers led by FIDELITY (+8.70%) as against 26 decliners topped by MOBIL (-9.44%). Hence, market breadth index (-0.13x) closed negative.
• The Oil and Gas tracker was down -2.58% dragged by -9.44% and  -5.34% decline in both MOBIL and OANDO to lead the laggard list among major sectoral indexes. The Banking (-0.62%), Consumer (-0.31%) and Industrial (-0.21%) trackers  also closed in the red.
• In the near term, we expect the equities market to remain volatile as closure of earning season and lack of positive catalyst would continue to drag market momentum. However, we advise investors to lengthen their horizon and gradually build position in quality names

CURRENCY:

• At the interbank market, the local currency closed flat at N306 against the USD due to CBN’s continued intervention. With this said, the NGN gained +2.93% to N379.63 against the GBP and +0.21% to N323.81 against the EUR.
• While the NGN was flat at N490 against the GBP at the parallel market, it lost -1.22% to N410 against the USD and -1.16% to N430 against the EUR.
• Going forward, we expect CBN’s continued intervention in the FX market to support the local currency in the near term.
  

FIXED INCOME:

• CBN sold N7.3bn worth of OMO bills today as it maintained its stance in squeezing system liquidity in defence of the local currency. As a result of this and FX forward auctions by CBN, the O/N and OBB rates jumped to 145% and 141% today, from 22.75% and 21.66% yesterday, respectively.
• As at time of writing, NIBOR rates had yet to be published.
• Investors were largely bearish in the bond market today as yields inched up on average. While the yield on the 5yr benchmark bond was flat at 15.71%, yield on the 7yr and 10yr benchmarks were up 13bps to 15.80% and 15.88% respectively. The upward movement may not be unconnected with the CBN’s continued squeeze on system liquidity.
• In the near term, we may see yields trend south on the release of the NBS’ inflation report on Thursday, which is likely to show a decline in headline inflation on the higher base effect of 2016.
  

Below are key NSE statistics as at the end of trades:

NASD OTC pricelist for Tuesday 11^th of April 2017