Equities market closed northward from price uptick in Dangote Cement, MTN, Nigerian Breweries

• Market investors claim N355.7bn profit from trading

Charles Abuede

The Nigerian equities market rebounded into winning ways on Thursday with N355.7 billion gain for investors following price uptick in major equities on the trading floor. Thus, the benchmark index reversed the previous session loss, gaining 1.75 per cent to close at 39,461.20 points following price appreciation in Dangote Cement (+7.8%), MTN Nigeria (+3.9%), and Nigerian Breweries (+1.9%). As a result, the market year to date loss improved to -2.0 per cent while market capitalisation rose to N20.65 trillion N20.29 trillion from the previous day.

Also, the level of trading activity improved as total volume and value exchanged in the market rose 4.3 per cent and 6.3 per cent to 270.7 million units and N2.0 billion respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were First Bank Holding (51.5m units), Transnational Corporation (42.5m units) and Eko Cooperatives (20.0m units) while First Bank Holding (N359.8m), Dangote Cement (N313.6m), and Zenith Bank (N217.3m) led by value.

Further across sectors, the performance was mixed as 3 indicators gained, 2 lost while the oil & gas index closed flat. The industrial goods index led the gainers, up 3.6 per cent due to buying interest in Dangote Cement (+7.8%). Also, the ICT and insurance indices gained 1.9 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively on the back of price appreciation in MTN Nigeria (+3.9%), Aiico insurance (+5.7%), and Linkage Assurance (+7.0%). Contrariwise, the banking and consumer goods indices fell 1.4 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively due to sell-offs in GTBank (-3.1%), First Bank Holding (-6.1%), Dangote Sugar (-7.8%), and Honeywell Flour Mills Plc (-3.8%).

Also, the investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth strengthened to 1.4x from the 0.9x recorded in the previous session as 24 stocks advanced while 17 declined. Julius Berger (+10.0%), Fidson Pharmaceutical (+10.0%) and Eko Cooperatives (+9.3%) were the top gainers while CWG (-9.8%), Mutual Benefit Assurance (-7.5%) and First Bank Holding (-6.8%) were the top decliners.

The NSE 30

The NSE 30 Index increased by 1.86 per cent to close at 1,578.20 points as against 1,549.42 points as on the previous day. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 113.10 million units. Julius Berger and Dangote Cement were the key gainers, while First Bank Holding and Guaranty were the key losers.

At the I&E FX market, Naira appreciated by 0.06 per cent as the dollar was quoted at N411 as against the last close of N411.25 while it traded flat across the official CBN window at N379 per dollar. Most participants maintained bids between N395 and N422 per dollar.

Treasury Bills

In the NT-Bills secondary market closed on a flat note, with the average yield across the curve remaining unchanged at 4.74 per cent. Average yields across short-term, medium-term, and long-term maturities closed at 2.92 per cent, 3.41 per cent, and 6.32 per cent, respectively.

Moreover, the CBN held its scheduled Primary Market Auction on April 28, selling NT-Bills worth N79.09 billion across the 91-day (N71.93 billion), 182-day (N6.00 billion), and 364-day (N1.16 billion) tenors. The stop rates for the 91-day and 182-day remained unchanged at 2 per cent and 3.50 per cent, respectively. However, the stop rate for 364-day tenor cleared higher at 9.75 per cent (+75 bps). The auction was oversubscribed by 322 per cent, with bid-to-cover ratios settling at 0.92x (91-day), 15.09x (182-day), and 0.31 (364-day).

In the OMO bills market, the average yield across the curve increased by 1 basis point to close at 7.91 per cent as against the last close of 7.90 per cent. Average yield across long-term maturities increased by 1 basis point as selling pressure was witnessed in the OMO 22-Feb-22 (+11 bps) and OMO 15-Mar-22 (+13 bps) maturity bills. However, the average yields on short-term and medium-term maturities closed flat at 4.31 per cent and 6.81 per cent, respectively.

Bond market

The FGN bonds secondary market closed on a mildly negative note today, as the average bond yield across the curve cleared higher by 1 basis point to close at 8.73 per cent from 8.72 per cent on the previous day. Average yields across medium tenor and long tenor of the curve expanded by 8 basis points and 3 basis points, respectively. However, the average yield across the short tenor of the curve remained unchanged. The FGN 15-AUG-2021 Sukuk bond was the best performer with a decrease in the yield of 3 basis points, while the 18-APR-2037 maturity bond was the worst performer with an increase in the yield of 7 basis points.