EQUITIES:  

• The Nigerian bourse opened the week on a positive note as the All Share Index gained +0.80% to close at 25,965.18pts, corresponding to a market capitalisation of c.N8.97trillion.
• This performance was supported by buying interest in heavy weight banking and consumer names including ZENITHBANK (+50.27pts), NESTLE (+41.52pts) and GUARANTY (+31.70) which cancelled out the decline in FO (-7.20pts), ACCESS (-4.21pts) and UACN (-4.02pts).
• FIDSON (+9.09%) topped the list of 22 gainers while UACN (-4.12%) led the laggard list.
• Market turnover however weakened as investors exchanged 191m units of stocks worth c.N2.13bn. This represents -48% and -26% declines in both volume and value turnover. ZENITHBANK and GUARANTY topped the volume charts with 34m and 25m units traded respectively.
• Major sectoral indexes closed in the green; Oil & Gas (+1.67%), Banking (+1.50%), Consumer (+0.85%) and Industrial ( +0.01%).
• In the near term,  we expect the index’s performance to be influenced by the release of Q1 2017 scorecards and as well as developments in the new Investors’ and Exporters’ FX window. With this said, we highlight the potential for profit taking. As such, we advise investors to lengthen their horizon and build positions in quality names.

CURRENCY:

• At the interbank market, the NGN continued to close at N306 levels as CBN maintained its daily intervention. However, the NGN gained +3.29% to N394.01 against the GBP and +0.19% to N332.04 against the EUR.
• The local currency depreciated by -2.61% to N498 against the GBP and -1.20% to N420 against the EUR at the parallel market. However the NGN remained relatively flat at N390 against the USD.
• In the near term, we expect support to Naira performance from FX sales by the apex bank.

FIXED INCOME:

• CBN maintained its stance in keeping system liquidity tight today as it sold close to N22bn in OMO bills today, at 18.00% and 18.60% stop rates. With this said, the Overnight and Open Buy Back rates declined by 33bps and 17bps to 4.42% and 3.83% respectively.
• While investors were fairly bullish in the bond market today, majority of yields closed flat at the end of trading.  The downward movement in yields was mainly on the March 2027, down 10bps to 16.07%, March 2036, down 10bps to 15.99% and the Feb 2020, down 7bps to 16.13%. Yield on the 5yr, 7yr and 10yr benchmark bonds closed flat at 16.02%, 15.95% and 16.02% respectively.
• While N146bn worth of OMO bills will be maturing this week, we expect CBN to maintain its stance in issuing new bills to keep system liquidity tight. This should also see spot rates at the N150bn T-bill auction tomorrow remain relatively flat against the last auction when the Apex bank sold 91, 182 and 364-day bills at 13.598%, 17.400% and 18.980%.
  

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

NASD Pricelist for Tuesday 2^nd May, 2017