(Greenwich Merchant Bank): The Nigerian equity market continued its decline as profit taking in equities such as CAP (6.34%), FBNH (5.63%), ZENITHBANK (2.04%) and STERLNBANK (1.32%) caused the All-Share Index and Market Capitalization to shed 0.40% and settle at 51,586.50 points and N25.70 trillion. As a result, the YTD stood at 20.76%.
Market activity was mixed as volume of trades increased by 20.85% (234 million units) while value of trades decreased by 8.95% (N2.57 billion). GTCO was the highest traded stock by value with a turnover of N592 million, while CAP was the highest traded ticker by volume with 29 million units. Market sentiment was positive with market breadth coming in at 1.44x; owing to twenty-three (23) gainers and sixteen (16) losers.
Performance across sectors were mixed as the Consumer Goods (0.58%), Banking (0.53%), and Insurance (0.48%) sectors declined. However, the Industrial Sector (0.01%) was the sector that gained while the Oil and Gas sector remained unchanged.
Fixed Income Market
The mood in the fixed income market was generally quiet with few trades across the board. In the Bond market, the instruments that traded negated each other, retaining the average yield at a neutral close of 11.55%, the same as yesterday`s figure.
Bearish sentiments overshadowed the NT-Bills market as yields increased mostly at the short end of the curve. Consequently, the average yield rose by 75bps to close at 6.48%. Out of the 5 benchmarked bills listed on the OMO market, only 1 traded, leading to a 35bps rise in average yield to close at 6.12%.
The Open Buy-back (OBB) and Over-night rates (OVN) both closed at 14.00%, the OBB moving from 13.83% to 14.00% while the OVN maintaining its 14.00% trend. System liquidity closed at a negative balance of NGN52.07billion from a positive NGN1.92billion yesterday.
At the Investors’ and Exporters’ Window (I&EW), Naira weakened by NGN4.25/USD to close the day at NGN430.00/USD.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
