July 19, 2023/Cordros Report
EQUITIES
Unlike in the past two trading sessions, the domestic equities market closed marginally lower, as profit-taking activities in GEREGU (-10.0%) outweighed the demand for MTNN (+1.9%). As a result, the NGX-ASI pared by 1bp to 63,757.23 points. Thus, the MTD and YTD returns remained at +4.6% and +24.4%, respectively.
The total volume traded declined by 45.5% to 473.49 million units, valued at NGN10.08 billion, and exchanged in 7,403 deals. JAPAULGOLD was the most traded stock by volume at 77.98 million units, while GEREGU was the most traded stock by value at NGN4.86 billion.
Analysing by sectors, the Oil & Gas (+0.6%), Insurance (+0.5%), and Consumer Goods (+0.5%) indices posted gains, while the Banking (-2.1%) and Industrial Goods (-0.1%) indices declined.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x), as 27 tickers lost relative to 24 gainers. GEREGU (-10.0%) and PRESTIGE (-10.0%) topped the losers’ list, while HONYFLOUR (+10.0%) and ETERNA (+10.0%) recorded the most significant gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira depreciated by 6.4% to NGN793.70/USD at the I&E window.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded significantly by 888bps to 12.3%, following the settlement for the FGN bond PMA (NGN657.84 billion) that was held on Monday.
Activities in the Nigerian Treasury bills secondary market turned bullish, as the average yield contracted by 191bps to 4.3%. Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-329bps), mid (-218bps), and long (-148bps) segments following demand for the 36DTM (-381bps), 141DTM (-222bps), and 239DTM (-255bps) bills, respectively.
Trading in the Treasury bonds secondary market was bearish, as the average yield declined by 1bp to 12.8%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the mid (+20bps) segment, as investors sold off the APR-2029 (+37bps) bond, but dipped at the long (-3bps) end following buying interest in the APR-2049 (-21bps) bond. Conversely, the average yield closed flat at the short end.
