Please click to download the Market Report for Wednesday 16^th January 2019

EQUITY:

• The Nigerian equities market closed the third trading session of the week in green, gaining 1.07%.
• Similarly, Market breadth index was positive with 24 gainers against 16 stocks that declined.
• Today’s performance was driven by the gains in SOVRENINS (+10.00%), VERITASKAP (+10.00%), GUINNESS (+9.95%), NEM (+9.57%) and HONYFLOUR (+9.57%) which offset the losses in BETAGLAS (-10.00%), NNFM (-9.20%), and RESORTSAL (-8.82%).
• Sector performances were mixed today with Industrial (+1.70%) emerging the best performer, followed by Consumer Goods (+0.34%). In contrast, Banking (-0.34%) and Oil & Gas (-0.01%)  closed in the red.
• In terms of activity level, total volume increased by 2% while total value decreased by 36% as investors exchanged 306million units of shares worth N2.10billion. DIAMONDBNK (+1.44%) was the most actively traded with about 141million units of shares worth N296million.
• Following the sell-off in the equities market in 2018, we believe this presents decent entry opportunities in our quality names for investors with long term horizons.

CURRENCY:

• At the IEFX window, the Naira gained 0.15% against the USD closing at N363.05. In contrast, it lost 0.04% and 0.88% against the EUR and GBP to close at N413.29 and N466.77 respectively.
• In the parallel market, the Naira was flat at N362/USD and N462/GBP while it gained 0.24% against the EUR to close at N411.
• Going forward, we expect the FX market to continue to see support from CBN’s intervention sales.                                                                                                                                                

FIXED INCOME:

·         Money market rates declined today as the Open Buy Back and Overnight rates shed 350bps and 442bps to close at 18.17% and 19.75% respectively. The reduction in rates may be due to investors’ anticipation of OMO bills maturing tomorrow which may improve system liquidity.

·         Activities in the fixed income space were mixed today. While the yield on the 5yr benchmark bond remained unchanged at 15.09%, the yield on the 7yr benchmark bond declined by 4bps to close at 15.37%. In the same trading session, we saw the yield on the 10yr benchmark bond rose 7bps to close at 15.52%.

·         In the near term, we expect market activity to be influenced by liquidity levels and foreign investor participation.

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