August 5, 2020/InvestmentOne Report

Please click to download the Market Report for Wednesday 5^th August 2020

EQUITY:

·           The Nigerian equities market closed up today as NSE-ASI gained 0.16% to close at 24,882.04pts.

·           Similarly, in today’s trade, market breadth index was positive with 18 gainers against 12 losers.

·           Today’s performance was mainly due to the gains recorded in CAP (+9.74%), UAC-PROP (+9.52%), GLAXOSMITH (+6.19%), NEIMETH (+5.42%) and TRANSCORP (+5.08%) which offset the losses recorded in ETERNA (-9.00%), LIVESTOCK (-4.62%), MBENEFIT (-4.55%), LASACO (-4.00%) and MAYBAKER (-3.33%).

·           Sector performance were broadly positive as Oil & Gas (+0.11%), Banking (+0.07%), Consumer Goods (+0.01%) and Industrial (+0.01%)  sectors all closed in the green.

·           In terms of activity levels, total volume and value rose by 148% and 167% respectively, compared to yesterday as investors exchanged over 383million units of shares worth over N3.89billion. UACN was the most actively traded stock with about 81million units of shares worth about N471million.

·           The equities market closed up today following gains recorded in all major sectors. While we expect that investor sentiments would largely be driven by reactions to H1 2020 results in the near term, we reiterate that this may be one of the best periods to pick up some quality names with a medium to long term investment horizon.

CURRENCY:   

·           At the IEFX window, while the Naira gained by 0.26%, against the USD to close at N389.00, it closed down by 2.81% and 2.55% vs the EUR and GBP to print at N462.03 and N510.33 respectively.

·           At the parallel market, while the Naira lost 0.50% and 0.18% against the GBP and EUR to close at N595 and N545 respectively, it closed flat against the USD at N474.

·           Going forward, we expect the FX market to be dictated by heightened dollar demand and CBN FX policies.   

FIXED INCOME:

·           Money market rates declined today as Open buy back and Overnight rates decreased by 50bps and 75bps to 8.50% and 9.33% respectively.

·           The bond market was somewhat quiet today, although yields rose on the short end of the curve. We witnessed the yields on the 7yr and 10yr benchmark bonds remain flat at 7.38% and 7.98% respectively, while the yield on the 5yr benchmark bond was up 144bps to close 6.38%.

·           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: