February 23, 2023/Cordros Report
EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market extended yesterday’s bullish performance inspired by bargain-hunting in BUAFOODS (+8.9%). As a result, the All-Share Index printed a 0.6% gain to close at 54,646.38 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns increased to +2.6% and +6.6%, respectively.
The total volume traded increased by 9.3% to 142.04 million units, valued at NGN1.85 billion, and exchanged in 2,651 deals. UBA was the most traded stock by volume at 32.42 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN292.13 million.
Performance across the sectors was broadly positive, as the Consumer Goods (+3.8%), Insurance (+0.4%), Banking (+0.4%), Oil & Gas (+0.4%), and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices recorded gains.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was largely positive (3.1x), as 28 tickers gained relative to 9 losers. MRS (+9.9%) and MCNICHOLS (+9.1%) recorded the highest gains of the day, while NEIMETH (-6.5%) and CHIPLC (-6.2%) topped the losers’ list.
CURRENCY
The naira appreciated by 0.1% to NGN461.33/USD at the I&E window.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate contracted by 175bps to 10.8%, following the inflow from FGN bond coupon payment (NGN66.82 million).
The NTB secondary market closed on a bullish note, as the average yield contracted by 13bps to 3.9%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-30bps) end as participants demanded the 91DTM (-207bps) bill, but was flat at the mid and long segments. Elsewhere, the average yield remained at 3.8% in the OMO segment.
The Treasury bond secondary market traded with bullish sentiments, as the average yield contracted by 9bps to 12.9%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield decreased at the short (-17bps), mid (-14bps), and long (-1bp) segments as investors demanded the APR-2023 (-102bps), APR-2029 (-20bps) and APR-2037 (-2bps) bonds, respectively.
