March 18, 2021/Cordros Report

EQUITIES

Nigerian equities market extended yesterday’s gain, as interest in tier 1 banks, ZENITHBANK (+7.3%) and GUARANTY (+6.4%), pushed the All-Share Index higher by 0.5% to 38,914.84 points. Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses moderated to -2.2% and -3.4%, respectively.

The total volume of trades increased significantly by 727.8% to 1.47 billion units, valued at NGN5.85 billion, and exchanged in 4,040 deals. UNITYBNK was the most traded stock by volume at 1.00 billion units, while GUARANTY was the most traded stock by value at NGN3.55 billion.

Analysing by sectors, the Banking (+4.4%) and Industrial Goods (+0.2%) indices recorded gains, while the Insurance (-0.8%), Consumer Goods (-0.2%) and Oil & Gas (-0.1%) declined.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (2.0x), as 22 tickers gained, relative to 11 losers. ETERNA (+10.0%) and LASACO (+8.3%) recorded the day’s largest gains, while WAPIC (-9.1%) and LINKASSURE (-9.1%) topped the losers’ list.
 
CURRENCY

The naira appreciated slightly at the I&E window by 2bps to NGN409.67/USD but stayed flat at NGN485.00/USD in the parallel market.

MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME

The overnight lending rate contracted by 75bps to 12.8%, following inflows from FGN bond coupon payments (NGN41.10 billion).
 
Trading in the NTB secondary market was bearish, as the average yield expanded by 20bps to 3.3%. Across the curve, average yield expanded at the short (+46bps) and mid (+29bps) segments, as market participant sold off the 84-DTM (+132bps) and 104-DTM (+177bps) bills, respectively; the long end was flat. Similarly, the OMO segment’s average yield expanded slightly by 1bp to 7.0%.
 
Trading in the Treasury bond secondary market was mixed, as the average yield stayed flat at 9.4%. Across the benchmark curve, average yield contracted at the short (-6bps) and long (-1bp) ends, following demand for the MAR-2025 (-155bps) and APR-2049 (-35bps) bonds, respectively. On the other hand, the average yield expanded at the mid (+13bps) segment following sell-off of the APR-2029 (+25bps) bond.

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