August 18, 2020/Cordros Report

EQUITIES

The domestic bourse was little changed after today’s trading, as slight interest in DANGSUGAR (+2.3%) and Tier-1 bank stocks supported a marginal gain in the market. Precisely, the All-Share Index advanced by 0.02% to 25,136.49 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date gain increased to +1.8% while the Year-to-Date loss moderated to -6.4%.

The total trading volume increased by 68.1% to 271.00 million units, valued at NGN2.46 billion and exchanged in 3,693 deals. ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by volume at 35.84 million units while GUARANTY was the most traded stock by value at NGN877.02 million.
 
Across sectors, the Insurance (+0.9%) and Banking (+0.5%) indices recorded gains, while the Oil & Gas (-1.8%), Consumer Goods (-0.1%) and Industrial Goods (-0.02%) indices declined.
 
Market sentiment, as measured by the market breadth, was positive (1.2x), as 16 tickers gained relative to 13 losers. UPL (+9.91%) and CORNERST (+9.43%) topped the gainers’ list while CONOIL (-9.76%) and ARDOVA (-9.68%) recorded the largest loses of the day.

CURRENCY

The naira weakened by 0.1% and 1.0% to NGN385.98/USD and NGN480.00/USD at the I&E window and parallel market, respectively.

MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME

The overnight lending rate contracted by 150bps to 16.0%, in the absence of significant funding pressures.
 
Trading in the NTB secondary market was bullish, as average yield pared by 1bp to 1.6%. Across the curve, yield at the mid (-5bps) segment contracted, due to buying interest in the 100DTM (-14bps) instrument; yield at the short and long ends remained flat. Similarly, average yield contracted by 5bps to 4.0% at the OMO secondary market.
 
Elsewhere, trading in the Treasury bond secondary market was mixed, as average yield was flat at 7.8%. This is as market participants ready bids for tomorrow’s PMA, where the DMO is set to offer instruments worth NGN150.00 billion through re-openings of the 12.50% JAN 2026, 12.50% MAR 2035, 9.80% JUL 2045 and 12.98% MAR 2050 bonds.

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