NGX plunges southward from price dips in bellwethers as investors lost N167.1 bn

Charles Abuede

Following the price dip recorded by the bellwethers, the equities market today inched on a negative trend as the all-share index declined sharply by 0.81 per cent to close at 39,114.73 points. The southward movement in connection with the performance by MTN Nigeria (-4.7%), Dangote Cement (-2.5%) and FCMB(-5.8%) leading to a year to date loss of -2.9 per cent and driving the market capitalization to N20.5 trillion from N20.64 trillion. Consequently, market investors lost N167.1 billion from trading.

However, the level of trading activity improved with the total volume and value traded rising 15.4 per cent and 37.4 per cent to 403.5 million units and N4.8 billion respectively as  Access Bank (105.9m units), NEM Insurance (38.7m units) and First Bank Holdings (35.4m units) appeared as the most traded stock by volume while Access Bank (N844.2m), Zenith Bank(N641.8m), and MTN Nigeria (N547.5m)  led by value.

Across the sectoral front, the performance was characterised by bullishness as 4 out 6 sector indices gained. The ICT and industrial goods indices declined 2.3 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively on the back of sell-offs in MTN Nigeria (-4.7%) and Dangote Cement (-2.5%). On the flip side, the oil & gas index led gainers as Seplat Petroleum (+10.0%) and Total Nigeria (+4.5%) appreciated. Similarly, the banking, consumer goods and insurance indices gained 1.6 per cent, 0.3 per cent, and 0.2 per cent respectively due to price appreciation in Zenith Bank (+3.1%), Dangote Sugar (+2.0%), and Aiico Insurance (+4.9%).

Furthermore, Investor sentiment strengthened to 1.3x from the 0.7x recorded in the previous session as 25 stocks advanced while 20 declined. Court Ville (+10.0%), Conoil Plc (+10.0%) and Seplat Petroleum (+10.0%) were the top gainers, while Boc Gas (-10.0%), Livestock Processors (-9.9%) and Scoa Group (-9.7%) top the decliners table.

NSE 30

At the NSE 30 Index, the benchmark decreased by 0.91 per cent to close at 1,563.43 points as against 1,577.75 points as on the previous day. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 270.02 million units. Seplat Petroleum and Access Bank were the key gainers, while FCMB and MTN Nigeria were the key losers.

FX market

In the foreign exchange market, the Naira depreciated by 0.12 per cent as the dollar was quoted at N411 as against the last close of N410.50 at the I&E FX market.  It traded unchanged at the official CBN window at N379 per dollar while most participants maintained bids between N400 and N420.50 per dollar.

Treasury Bills

In the treasury bills secondary market, the NT-Bills secondary market closed on a flat note, with the average yield across the curve remaining unchanged at 4.71 per cent. Average yields across short-term, medium-term, and long-term maturities closed at 2.92 per cent, 3.54 per cent, and 6.49 per cent, respectively.

In the OMO bills market, the average yield across the curve remained unchanged at 8.10 per cent. Average yields across short-term, medium-term, and long-term maturities closed at 4.72 per cent, 7.22 per cent, and 9.81 per cent, respectively. Buying interest was seen on the OMO 15-Feb-22 maturity bill, with the yield declining by 20 bps while selling pressure was witnessed on the OMO 8-Feb-22 maturity bill with the yield rising by 14 basis points.

Bond Market

In the bond market, the FGN bonds secondary market closed on a mildly negative note on Thursday, as the average bond yield across the curve cleared higher by 2 basis points to close at 8.81 per cent from 8.79 per cent on the previous day. Average yield across the medium tenor of the curve expanded by 14 basis points, while the average yield across the long tenor of the curve decreased by 1 basis point. However, the average yield across the short tenor of the curve remained unchanged. The 26-APR-2049 maturity bond was the best performer with a decrease in the yield of 4 basis points, while the 26-APR-2029 maturity bond was the worst performer with an increase in the yield of 22 basis points.