April 11, 2018/Cordros Report
EQUITIES
- Proceedings in the equities market remained positive, as the ASI increased by 0.86% to 40,846.24 points, following sustained interests in industrial goods stocks.
- Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns improved to 1.59% and 6.81% respectively.
- The Industrial Goods (+2.01%) index remained the highest gainer among major sectoral indices, while the Oil & Gas (+0.75%) and Consumer Goods (+0.67%) indices followed suit, owing to demands for the shares of DANGCEM (+1.96%), MOBIL (+7.56%), and HONYFLOUR (+4.92%) respectively. On the flip side, the Insurance (-0.68%) and Banking (-0.31%) indices remained negative, driven by selloffs of CONTINSURE (-3.23%) and DIAMONDBNK (-2.13%) shares respectively.
- Market breadth turned positive, with 27 gainers and 19 losers, led by LEARNAFRCA (+9.43%) and CILEASING (-9.40%). Total volume of trades was 5.42% lower at 367 million units, while value of trades was up by 26.99% to NGN5.33 billion, exchanged in 4,462 deals.
- In the medium-to-long term, we look for positive performance in the equities market, as relatively lower prices of value stocks further create opportunities for bargain hunting.
CURRENCY
- The USD/NGN strengthened by 0.14% to NGN359.81 in the I&E window – dipping below the NGN360-mark for the first time since 9th January – while it weakened by 0.28% to NGN363 in the parallel market – breaking off the flat position of NGN362 for the first time in four-weeks. Total turnover in the I&E FX window increased by 56.17% to USD339.13 million, consummated within the NGN350-NGN361.25/USD band.
FIXED INCOME AND MONEY MARKET
- The overnight lending rate eased to 3.00%, representing a 42 bps contraction, driven by still-robust system liquidity. NGN476.21 billion worth of OMO bills will mature into the system tomorrow.
- Proceedings in the NTB market were mixed, in anticipation of OMO auction, by the CBN, tomorrow. Average yield was flat, remaining at 14.01%. Yield contraction at the mid (-5 bps) and long (-6 bps) ends of the curve were offset by yield expansion at the short (+13bps) segment. Notable bills include the 120DTM (-35 bps), 183DTM (-34 bps), and 15DTM (+53 bps), respectively.
- The bond market traded on a bullish note due to (1) market players taking position ahead of the release of the March inflation figure tomorrow and (2) surplus market liquidity. Average yield contracted by 7 bps to 13.53%. Buy sentiment was spread across all ends (short: -10 bps; mid: -4 bps; and long: -7 bps) of the curve, with yields on the JUN-2019 (-26 bps), JAN-2026 (-11bps), and JUL-2030 (-10 bps) bonds recording significant contractions.
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