August 8, 2019/Cordros Report

EQUITIES

The Nigerian equities market closed today’s session on a positive note as the benchmark index widened marginally by 0.05% to 27,424.92 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses moderated to -1.06% and -12.74% respectively.

There was a pickup in activities as the total volume of trades increased by 116.84% to 279.63 million units, valued at NGN2.68 billion, and exchanged in 3,498 deals. FBNH was the most traded stock by volume at 59.93 million units, while GUARANTY was the most traded by value at NGN804.63billion.

The Industrial Goods index was the sole gainer across sectoral indices, rising by 0.34%. Conversely, the Banking (-2.89%), Oil & Gas (-0.67%), Insurance (-0.38%) and Consumer Goods (-0.31%) indices all closed in the red. Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was negative (0.39x) as 23 tickers recorded losses relative to 9 gainers. On the decliners list, NAHCO (-10.00%) and GUINNESS (-10.00%) recorded the largest losses, while MANSARD (+9.09%) and JAIZBANK (+5.26%) led the gainers’ list.

CURRENCY

The naira traded flat against the US dollar at NGN360.00/USD in the parallel market, while it depreciated by 0.13% to NGN363.31/USD at the I&E FX window.

MONEY MARKET AND FIXED INCOME

The overnight lending rate widened by 278 bps to 12.57%, amidst the still tight system liquidity.

Activities in the Treasury bills market were bearish, as the average yield widened by 41bps to 12.10%. Investor sell-offs of the 35DTM (+144bps), 175DTM (+124bps) and 245DTM (+122bps) bills led to yield expansions across the short (+53bps), mid (+44bps) and long (+36bps) tenor segments of the yield curve respectively.

Trading in the bond market was bullish, as the average yield declined by 4bps to 13.62%. Demand for FEB-2022 (-4bps), JAN-2026 (-45bps) and MAR-2037 (-9bps) bonds, led to yield decline across the short (-1bp), mid (-9bps) and long (-3bps) ends of the curve.

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