March 21, 2023/Cordros Report
EQUITIES
The local bourse traded marginally higher in today’s session, as bargain-hunting in ZENITHBANK (+1.4%) and WAPCO (+2.2%) spurred a 3bps increase in the All-Share Index to 54,904.68 points. Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns were unchanged at -1.6% and +7.1%, respectively.
The total volume traded decreased by 89.1% to 127.74 million units, valued at NGN1.59 billion, and exchanged in 2,987 deals. UBA was the most traded stock by volume at NGN19.60 million, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN298.84 million.
On sectors, the Insurance (+1.3%), Banking (+0.4%), and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices posted gains, while the Oil & Gas index closed flat. Meanwhile, the Consumer Goods (-0.1%) index declined.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was mixed (1.0x), as an equal number of tickers (12) gained and lost. LINKASSURE (+9.7%) and WAPIC (+7.9%) recorded the most significant gains of the day, while IKEJAHOTEL (-9.6%) and CADBURY (-5.8%) topped the losers’ list.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 0.1% to NGN462.00/USD at the I&E window.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 486bps to 17.6%, in the absence of any significant funding pressures on the system.
Quiet trading continued in the Nigerian Treasury bills secondary market, as the average yield was unchanged at 5.4%. Similarly, the average yield was flat at 3.0% in the OMO segment.
The Treasury bond secondary market traded with bullish sentiments, as the average yield contracted by 8bps to 12.9%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield declined at the short (-6bps), mid (-7bps), and long (-10bps) segments following buying interest in the APR-2023 (-35bps), APR-2032 (-15bps), and APR-2037 (-39bps) bonds, respectively.
