November 1, 2021/Cordros Report
EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market started the week and month on a negative note as profit-taking witnessed in FBNH (-2.7%), GTCO (-0.9%), and ETI (-4.5%) caused a 0.2% decline in the benchmark index. Thus, the NGX ASI settled at 41,789.59 points. Consequently, the Year-to-Date gain moderated to +4.2%.
The total volume of trades declined by 66.5% to 378.15 million units, valued at NGN3.24 billion, and exchanged in 6,384 deals. MBENEFIT was the most traded stock by volume at 52.44 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN339.72 million.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Oil & Gas (-1.8%), Banking (-0.4%), and Consumer Goods (-0.3%) indices declined, while the Insurance (+1.9%) and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices recorded gains.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.7x), as 29 tickers lost relative to 20 gainers. ETERNA (-9.9%) and COURTVILLE (-9.1%) recorded the most significant losses of the day while FIDSON (+9.9%) and GUINNESS (+9.9%) topped the gainers’ list.
CURRENCY
The naira was flat at NGN414.98/USD at the I&E window.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 550bps to 13.0% in the absence of any significant funding pressures on the system.
Trading in the NTB secondary market was bullish, as the average yield contracted by 14bps to 5.3%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+34bps) end as investors sold off the 73DTM (+38bps); but contracted at the mid (-4bps) and long (-36bps) segments following investors’ demand for the 178DTM (-36bps) and 192DTM (-69bps) bills, respectively. Similarly, the average yield declined by 29bps at the OMO segment to 6.1%.
The Treasury bond secondary market was quiet as the average yield closed flat at 11.2%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-1bps) end following investors’ demand for the MAR-2025 (-1bps) bond; the mid and long segments were unchanged.
