March 29, 2022/Cordros Report
EQUITIES
Bearish sentiments persisted in the Nigerian equities market, as profit-taking activities witnessed in INTBREW (-10.0%), STANBIC (-2.3%), and ZENITHBANK (-1.3%) stocks caused a 0.1% decline in the benchmark index to 46,843.09 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -1.2% and +9.7%, respectively.
The total volume of trades decreased by 40.5% to 214.33 million units, valued at NGN1.79 billion, and exchanged in 4,125 deals. CHAMS was the most traded stock by volume at 30.40 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN275.02 million.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative as the Banking (-1.0%), Oil & Gas (-0.5%), Insurance (-0.3%), and Consumer Goods (-0.3%) indices closed in the red while the Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.8x) as 17 tickers lost relative to 14 gainers. INTBREW (-10.0%) and VERITASKAP (-8.7%) recorded the most significant losses of the day, while PZ (+9.8%) and FCMB (+9.3%) topped the gainers’ list.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.1% to NGN417.00/USD at the I&E window.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 17bps to 4.8% in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
Trading in the NTB secondary market was mixed although with a bearish tilt, as the average yield expanded slightly by 1bp to 3.2%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield was flat at the short and mid segments but expanded at the long (+3bps) end as market participants sold off the 303DTM (+26bps) bill. Elsewhere, the average yield in the OMO segment remained unchanged at 3.6%.
The Treasury bond secondary market traded with mixed sentiments, albeit with a bullish bias, as the average yield pared by 1bp to 10.6%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield contracted at the short (-2bps) end as investors demanded the JAN-2026 (-4bps) bond but was flat at the mid and long segments.
