February 12, 2020/InvestmentOne Report

Please click to download the Market Report for Wednesday 12^th February 2020

 EQUITY:

·         The Nigerian equities market closed positive today as NSE-ASI gained 0.02% to close at 27,878.43pts.

·         However, in today’s trade, market breadth index was negative with 18 losers against 13 gainers.   

·         Today’s performances were mainly due to the gains recorded in CILEASING (+9.09%), AFRIPRUD (+2.17%), UACN (+2.15%), LAWUNION (+1.67%) and ACCESS (+1.56%) which offset the losses recorded in SKYAVN (-9.50%), ROYALEX (-8.00%), JAPAULOIL (-7.69%), GUINNESS (-7.28%) and STERLNBANK (-7.19%).

·         Sector performances were mixed today as Banking (+0.30%) and Industrial (+0.08%) closed positive while Consumer Goods (-0.31%) closed in red. Nonetheless, Oil & Gas remained flat.

·         In terms of activity levels, total volume and total value declined by 70% and 34% respectively, compared to yesterday as investors exchanged over 152million units of shares worth over N2.44billion. GUARANTY was the most actively traded stock with about 46million units of shares worth about N1.34billion.

·         The equities market closed down today as a result of the gains recorded in Banking and Industrial sectors. We still maintain our view that investors should take positions in quality names with a medium to long time investment horizon as prices remain attractive at current levels. 

CURRENCY:

·         At the IEFX window, while the Naira gained  0.01% and 0.19% against USD and EUR to close at  N364.85 and N396.93 respectively, it lost 0.13% against GBP to close at N472.40.

·         At the parallel market, the Naira remained flat at N475, N360 and N396 against GBP, USD and EUR respectively.

·         Going forward, we expect the FX market to continue to see support from CBN’s intervention sales. 

FIXED INCOME:

·         Money market rates were mixed today. While Open Buy Back increased by 28bps to close at 15.42%, Overnight rates remained declined by 8bps closing at 16.00%.

·         The CBN conducted a Treasury bills auction today in which we saw the Apex bank sell N4.38billion, N10.00billion and N140.00billion for the 91day, 182day and 364day bills at the respective stop rates of 3.00%, 4.00% and 6.54%. We highlight that the stop rates for the 91day and 182days bills were 50bps lower while the stop rate on the 364day bill was 4bps higher than the last auction.

·         The bond market was broadly flat today as yields remained unchanged across most tenors. While the yields on the 7yr and 10yr benchmark bonds remained flat at 9.88% and 10.91% respectively, the yield on the 5yr benchmark bond fell by 3bps to close at 9.47%

·         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: