October 28, 2020/Cordros Report

EQUITIES

The Nigerian domestic equities continued to trade with bullish sentiments for the fifth consecutive session, as investors remain keen on market large caps. Significant interest in NESTLE (+10.0%) and DANGCEM (+2.2%) stocks supported the gain recorded in today’s trading. Consequently, the ASI recorded its biggest move since rising by 1.6% on October 6th, 2020, as it advanced by 1.6% to 29,437.60 points. Accordingly, Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns both increased to 9.7%.
 
The total volume of trades decreased by -2.7% to 375.25 million units, valued at NGN4.63 billion and exchanged in 5,947 deals. ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by volume at 46.66 million units, while BUACEMENT was the most traded stock by value at NGN1.04 billion.
 
Sectoral performance reflected the general market sentiment, as all sector indices gained. The Consumer Goods (+5.7%) index led the gains, followed by the Oil & Gas (+2.1%), Insurance (+1.5%) Banking (+1.2%), and Industrial Goods (+1.1%) indices.
 
Market sentiment, as measured by the market breadth, was positive (8.2x), as 41 tickers gained, relative to 5 losers. NESTLE (+10.0%) and CUSTODIAN (+10.0%) topped the gainers list, while ROYALEX (-8.0%) and CUTIX (-6.8%) recorded the largest losses of the day.
 
CURRENCY

The naira appreciated by 0.1% at the I&E window to NGN385.67/USD, but depreciated by 0.4% in the parallel market to NGN465.00/USD.

MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME

The overnight lending rate contracted by 12bps to 1.6%, in the absence of any significant outflows from the system.

Activities at the NTB secondary market was muted, as market participants shift their attention to the PMA – average yield was flat at 0.5%. At the PMA, the CBN offered bills worth NGN154.38 billion with allotments of NGN7.50 billion of the 91-day, NGN6.00 billion of the 182-day and NGN140.87 billion of the 364-day – at respective stop rates of 0.34% (previously 1.00%), 0.50% (previously 1.00%), and 0.98% (previously 2.00%). Similarly, average yield was flat at the OMO secondary market.

Trading remained bearish at the Treasury bond secondary market, as average yield expanded by 2bps to 4.2%. Across the curve, average yield contracted slightly at the short (-1bp) end, due to the demand for the JAN-2022 (-2bps) bond, while it expanded at the long (+5bps) end, following sell-off of the MAR-2050 (+14bps) bond; average yield was flat at the mid segment.

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