April 11, 2023/Cordros Report
EQUITIES
Activities in the local stock market picked up from where they left off last week, closing lower on a loss in AIRTELAFRI (-10.0%). Thus, the NGX ASI declined by 2.0% to settle at 51,952.99 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed -4.2% and +1.4%, respectively.
The total volume traded improved significantly by 545.6% to 1.72 billion units, valued at NGN4.80 billion, and exchanged in 4,286 deals. TRANSCORP was the most traded stock by volume and value at 1.55 million units and NGN2.10 billion, respectively.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative, as the Insurance (-1.8%), Industrial Goods (-0.6%), Banking (-0.3%), and Consumer Goods (-0.2%) indices declined, while the Oil & Gas index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.1x), as 28 tickers lost relative to 4 gainers. AIRTELAFRI (-10.0%) and CHIPLC (-9.1%) topped the losers’ list, while CAVERTON (+8.3%) and NAHCO (+3.1%) recorded the highest gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira appreciated by 0.1% to NGN462.88/USD at the I&E window.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 13bps to 19.0%, in the absence of any significant funding pressure on the system.
The Nigerian Treasury bills secondary market traded with bearish sentiments, as the average yield expanded by 68bps to 8.8%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+45bps) and long (+46bps) ends following the selloffs of the 44DTM (+179bps) and 352DTM (+13.12ppts) bills, respectively. Conversely, the average yield pared at the mid (-1bp) segment as market participants demanded the 149DTM (-1bp) bill. Elsewhere, the average yield was unchanged at 4.0% in the OMO segment.
Trading activities in the Treasury bills secondary market were quiet, as the average yield closed flat at 13.5%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield was flat at the short and mid segments but expanded slightly at the long (+1bp) end due to profit-taking activities on the APR-2049 (+4bps) bond.
