February 27, 2023/Cordros Report
EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market carried on last week’s bullish performance, as bargain-hunting in BUAFOODS (+4.7%) triggered a 0.7% gain in the benchmark index to 55,328.42 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed +3.9% and +8.0%, respectively.
The total volume traded increased by 25.8% to 149.78 million units, valued at NGN1.54 billion, and exchanged in 3,186 deals. OANDO was the most traded stock by volume at 14.29 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN205.55 million.
Sectoral performance was broadly positive, as the Consumer Goods (+2.4%), Oil & Gas (+1.4%), Insurance (+1.1%), Banking (+0.5%), and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices recorded gains.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (3.0x), as 27 tickers gained relative to 9 losers. CILEASING (+10.0%) and OANDO (+10.0%) topped the gainers’ list, while FTNCOCOA (-6.9%) and UPDC (-4.0%) recorded the highest losses of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.2% at NGN462.00/USD at the I&E window.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate was unchanged at 10.8%, as system liquidity closed at a net long position (NGN717.60 billion).
The Nigerian Treasury bills secondary market was bearish, as the average yield expanded by 5bps to 4.0%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+12bps) end due to the sell-off of the 17DTM (+85bps) bill but closed flat at the mid and long segments. Elsewhere, the average yield was flat at 3.8% in the OMO segment.
Similarly, the Treasury bonds secondary market traded with bearish sentiments, as the average yield expanded by 13bps to 13.0%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield advanced at the short (+24bps) and mid (+18bps) segments as investors sold off the MAR-2025 (+74bps) and APR-2029 (+25bps) bonds, respectively. Conversely, the average yield closed flat at the long end.
