February 20, 2023/Cordros Report
EQUITIES
Trading activities in the local bourse resumed this week in an upbeat mood, following bargain-hunting in AIRTELAFRI (+3.9%). Thus, the All-Share Index inched higher by 0.8% to close at 54,224.35 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed +1.9% and +5.8%, respectively.
The total volume traded decreased by 10.6% to 154.63 million units, valued at NGN5.51 billion, and exchanged in 3,095 deals. GTCO was the most traded stock by volume at 36.68 million units, while AIRTELAFRI was the most traded stock by value at NGN2.94 billion.
Analysing by sectors, the Oil & Gas (+0.9%), Banking (+0.2%) and Insurance (+0.1%) indices recorded gains, while the Industrial Goods (-0.1%) index closed lower. The Consumer Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x), as 15 tickers lost relative to 14 gainers. CAPHOTEL (-9.4%) and VITAFOAM (-7.2%) recorded the highest losses of the day, while CONOIL (+9.9%) and CWG (+9.9%) topped the gainers’ list.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.1% to NGN461.50/USD at the I&E window.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 7bps to 17.9%, in the absence of any significant outflow from the system.
Activities in the Treasury bills secondary market were quiet, as the average yield remained at 4.0%. Similarly, the average yield was unchanged at 3.8% in the OMO segment.
The Nigerian bonds secondary market traded with mixed sentiments, but with a bearish tilt, as the average yield expanded slightly by 1bp to 13.0%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+2bps) end following the sell-off of the MAR-2025 (+27bps) bond but was flat at the mid and long segments.
