Charles Abuede
Despite the plunge witnessed in the banking sector due to the price depreciation in GTBank and Zenith Bank, the local bourse posted positive gains on Tuesday, on the back of buying pressures in the market’s heavyweights. thus, after five consecutive bearish runs, the benchmark index gained 0.41 per cent to 38,720.81 points following buying interest in blue-chip companies such as Dangote Cement (+3.6%), MTN Nigeria (+1.2%) and Guinness Plc (+10.0%). Accordingly, the market year to date loss improved to -3.8 per cent and market capitalisation increased to N20.3 trillion and giving investors N83.2 billion as profit.
In the same vein, the trading activity level improved as volume and value rose by 19.7 per cent and 67.1 per cent respectively to 220.9 million units and N4.2 billion. The most traded stocks by volume were UBA (24.4m units), Access Bank (19.1m units) and Mutual Benefit Assurance (17.9m units) while Notore (N960.0m), Dangote Cement (N933.0m) and Nestle Plc (N617.6m) led by value.
Across the sectoral front, the performance was mixed as 3 indicators appreciated, 2 lost and the oil & gas index closed flat. The Industrial goods and ICT indices gained 1.7 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively following price upticks in Dangote Cement (+3.6%) and MTN Nigeria (+1.2%). Similarly, the consumer goods index closed higher by 0.2 per cent due to demand for Guinness Plc (+10.0%) and Vita Foam (+5.4%). On the flip side, losses in Wapic Plc (-9.1%), AXA Mansard Insurance (-3.8%), GTBank (-4.8%) and Zenith Bank (-4.3%) dragged the insurance and banking indices down by 1.1 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, the investor sentiment as measured by market breadth weakened to 0.6x from the 1.0x recorded previously as 11 stocks advanced against 19 losers. Regency Alliance Insurance (+10.0%), Guinness Plc (+10.0%) and Jaiz Bank (+9.7%) were the top advancers while Wapic (-9.1%), African Prudential Insurance (-8.3%) and Fidelity Bank (-6.7%) were the top losers.
NSE 30
The NSE 30 Index increased by 0.30 per cent to close at 1,535.24 points as against 1,530.63 points as on the previous day. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 112.26 million units. Guinness and Dangote Cement were the key gainers, while Fidelity and Ecobank were the key losers.
FX market
Elsewhere in the foreign exchange market, the Naira firmed at N485 to a dollar in the parallel market while at the I & E Window, the Naira depreciated by 0.21 per cent as the dollar was quoted at N409.75 to the dollar as against the last close of N408.90 per dollar. Most participants maintained bids between N390 and N412 per dollar.
Treasury Bills Market
In the treasury bills market, it was a positive close with average yield across the curve increasing by 30 basis points to close at 3.13 per cent from 2.83 per cent on the previous day. The bearish close was due to selloffs across the intermediate and long end of the curve as the average yield across long-term maturities widened by 60 basis points, while the average yield across short-term and medium-term maturities closed flat at 0.61 per cent and 3.05 per cent, respectively. Yields on 8 bills advanced with the 30-Sep-21 maturity bill recording the highest yield increase of 118 basis points, while yields on 12 bills remained unchanged.
Ahead of the NT-bills Primary Market Auction (PMA) on Wednesday, investors’ participation is expected to remain strong, as the CBN seeks to rollover N1.5 billion, N8.4 billion, and N37.2 billion across the 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day respectively.
In the OMO bills market, the average yield across the curve spiked by 25 basis points to close at 6.90 per cent as against the last close of 6.65 per cent. Selling pressure was seen across short-term, medium-term, and long-term maturities with average yields rising by 47 basis points, 19 basis points, and 16 basis points, respectively. Yields on 17 bills advanced with the 1-Jun-21 maturity bill registering the highest yield increase of 183 basis points.
Bond Market
Elsewhere, the FGN bonds secondary market closed on a mildly positive note after Wednesday trading, as the average bond yield across the curve cleared lower by 3 basis points to close at 5.93 per cent from 5.96 per cent on the previous day. Average yield across short tenor of the curve declined by 6 basis points, while the average yield across medium tenor of the curve increased by 5 basis points. However, the average yield across the long tenor of the curve remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, at the FGN Saving Bond Auction for March 2021, the Debt Management Office allotted bonds worth N861.66 million across the 2-year (N357.42 million) and 3-year (N504.24 million) tenors at coupon rates of 5.181 per cent (+97 bps) and 6.181 per cent (+97 bps), respectively. Allotment for 2-year bond declined by 46.90 per cent compared to N673.12 million allotted in the last auction, and allotment for 3-year bond declined by 55.17 per cent versus N1.12 billion allotted in the previous auction.
