Equities market reversed gains on Tuesday due to price decline in banking stocks as investors lose N6.8bn

Charles Abuede

The local equities market reversed its previous day’s gains on Tuesday as the benchmark index declined marginally by 0.03 per cent to close at 39,305.48 points while market investors lost N6.8 billion following losses in banking stocks such as GTBank (-0.5%), Access Bank (-1.3%) and UBA (-1.3%) that dragged the bourse into the south. As a result, the market year to date loss settled at -2.4 per cent, while market capitalisation fell to N20.57 trillion from N20.58 trillion the previous day.

Similarly, the level of trading activity was scrawny as total volume and value traded fell 23.4 per cent and 13.9 per cent to 252.6 million units and N1.8 billion respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were Access Bank (57.2m units), Transnational Corporation (30.8m units) and Fidelity Bank (29.4m units) while GTBank (N496.4m), Access Bank (N410.1m) and Zenith Bank (N328.0m) led by value.

Across the sectorial front, a bullish performance was exhibited as 4 indicators gained, the ICT index closed flat and the banking index lost 0.6 per cent following price declines in GTBank (-0.5%) and Access Bank (-1.3%). The Insurance index led the gainers’ log, up 1.0 per cent due to price appreciation in Prestige Assurance (+9.5%) and AXA Mansard Insurance (+1.1%). Also, the oil & gas index advanced 0.2 per cent following gains in Ardova Plc (+5.5%) while the consumer and industrial goods indices appreciated 3 basis points and 2 basis points respectively on the back of buying interest in Champion Breweries (+7.5%) and Wapco Plc (+0.2%).

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth weakened to 1.4x from the 1.5x recorded in the previous session as 23 stocks advanced against 16 decliners. Prestige Assurance  (+9.5%), Wema Bank (+8.8%) and Royal Exchange Plc. (+7.7%) were the top gainers while Consolidated Health Insurance Plc (-9.1%), University Press Limited (-8.6%) and Chams Plc (-4.5%) were the top decliners.

The NSE 30

At the close of the day, the NSE 30 Index marginally decreased by 0.04 per cent to close at 1,569.23 points as against 1,569.80 points as on the previous day. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 133.38 million units. Okomu Oil and Fidelity Bank were the key gainers, while Sterling Bank and UBA were the key losers.

Foreign Exchange Market

In the foreign exchange market, the naira traded flat at N379 to a dollar in the official CBN window, and depreciated by 0.41 per cent in the I&E window as the dollar was quoted at N411.67 as against the last close of N410 per dollar. Most participants maintained bids between N402 and N436.55 per dollar.

Treasury Bills

Elsewhere, 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.

In the OMO bills market, the average yield across the curve remained unchanged at 7.72 per cent. Average yields across short-term, medium-term, and long-term maturities closed at 4.31 per cent, 6.82 per cent, and 9.26 per cent, respectively.

Bond market

Meanwhile, the FGN bonds secondary market closed on a negative note today as the average bond yield across the curve cleared higher by 43 basis points to close at 8.66 per cent from 8.23 per cent on the previous day. Average yields across short tenor, medium tenor, and long tenor of the curve widened by 55 basis points, 7 basis points, and 6 basis points, respectively. The 27-MAR-2050 maturity bond was the best performer with a decrease in the yield of 3 basis points, while the 27-APR-2023 maturity bond was the worst performer with an increase in the yield of 156 basis points.