November 23, 2020/Cordros Report

EQUITIES

The domestic equities market extended its losses from the last two trading sessions, as the All-Share Index declined by 4bps to 34,121.78 points. The NSE ASI was dragged by profit-taking on major financial services tickers – ZENITHBANK (-5.7%), WAPCO (-10.0%), STANBIC (-8.0%) and GUARANTY (-3.7%). Consequently, Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date gains moderated to 11.8% and 27.1%, respectively.
 
The total volume of trades increased by 64.7% to 568.04 million units, valued at NGN7.33 billion, and exchanged in 8,928 deals. ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by volume and value at 79.74 million units and NGN1.91 billion, respectively.
 
Sectoral performance was broadly negative, as the Banking (-4.7%), Consumer Goods (-2.1%), Insurance (-2.1%) and Oil & Gas (-1.6%) indices recorded declines. The Industrial Goods (+2.7%) index was the sole gainer in our coverage.
 
Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was negative (0.1x), as 46 tickers declined, relative to 8 gainers. ARDOVA (-10.0%) and CUSTODIAN (-10.0%) topped the losers’ list, while AIRTELAFRI (+5.0%) and BUACEMENT (+4.8%) recorded the largest gains of the day.
 
CURRENCY

The naira was marginally lower, but closed flat at NGN386.00/USD at the I&E window, while it appreciated by 0.2% to NGN483.00/USD, at the parallel market.

MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME

The overnight lending rate contracted by 183bps to 2.5%, following inflows for FGN bond coupon payments (NGN9.32 billion) into the system.

Trading in the NTB secondary market was mixed, albeit with a bearish tilt, as the average yield expanded marginally by 1bp to 0.1%. The expansion stemmed from the long (+2bps) end of the yield curve, following sell-offs of the 339DTM (+17bps) instrument. Further up the curve, average yield remained unchanged at the short and mid segments. Also, the OMO secondary market traded with mixed sentiments as the average yield was flat at 0.1%.

The Treasury bonds secondary market traded quietly following the reduced liquidity in the market. As a result, the average yield pared by 1bp to 4.0%. Across the curve, average yield declined by mid (-1bp) and long (-1bp) segments, following demand for the FEB-2028 (-1bp) and APR-2049 (-7bps) bonds, respectively. Average yield was unchanged at short end.

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