Charles Abuede
At the close of trading at the domestic equities market on Wednesday, the run-up in the prices of top counters resulted from the spate of upbeat earnings releases brought about an upturn courtesy of strong buying interest in Dangote Cement (+2.3%), MTN Nigeria (+2.4%), and Stanbic IBTC (+10.0%) weighed positively on Wednesday’s performance. Thus, the All-Share Index rose 0.98 per cent to 39,085.78 points, giving market investors gains in the tune of N199.2 billion while the market year to date loss improved to -2.9 per cent and the market capitalisation rose to N20.4 trillion.
On the other hand, the level of trading activity weakened as the total volume and value of transactions declining 11.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively to 361.9 million units and N5.7 billion. The most traded stocks by volume were Union Bank (79.3m units), GTBank (72.6m units), and Veritas capital (50.2m units) while GTBank (N2.3bn), MTN Nigeria (N1.1bn) and Dangote Cement (N451.9m) led by value.
Across the sectoral front, there was bullish performance recorded as 4 indicators trended in the north as the ICT index led the gainers’ chart, rising 1.2% due to price appreciation in MTN Nigeria (+2.4%). Also, the oil & gas, Industrial goods and consumer goods indices recorded growth of 0.7 per cent apiece on the back of buying interest in Oando Plc (+8.7%), Dangote Cement (+2.3%), Guinness Plc (+8.8%), and International Breweries (+2.8%). On the flip side, profit-taking in Wapic Plc (-9.1%), AXA Mansard (-2.0%), Ecobank International (-2.1%) and Access Bank (-0.6%) dragged the insurance and banking indices lower by 0.6 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, the Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, strengthened to 1.3x from the 1.0x recorded previously as 20 stocks gained against 15 decliners. Stanbic IBTC (+10.0%), Nigerian Police Force Microfinance Bank (+9.6%) and Cornerstone Insurance (+8.9%) were the top gainers while MRS (-9.7%), Wapic Plc (-9.1%) and Wapco (-7.1%) were the top decliners.
The NSE 30
Elsewhere, the NSE 30 Index increased by 1.13 per cent to close at 1,553.86 points as against 1,536.46 points as on the previous day. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 232.52 million units. Stanbic IBTC and Guinness were the key gainers, while Lafarge Africa and Fidelity were the key losers.
FX market
At the foreign exchange market, the Naira maintained stability at the Parallel market, at N486 to a dollar while it appreciated by 0.26 per cent at the investors and exporters window as the dollar was quoted at N408.75 as against the last close of N409.80. Most participants maintained bids between N393 and N412 per dollar.
T-bills market
Further afield, in the treasury bills market, yields rose in the T-bills space, resulting from selloffs at the long end of the market. Against this backdrop, the average T-bills yield increased by 36 basis points to 3.9 per cent from 3.54 per cent on the previous day. The average yields across the long-term maturities expanded by 80 basis points. However, the average yields across short-term and medium-term maturities closed flat at 2.06 per cent and 3.29 per cent, respectively. Yields on 6 bills advanced with the 24-Feb-22 maturity bill recording the highest yield increase of 249 basis points, while yields on 11 bills remained unchanged.
In the OMO bills market, the average yield across the curve increased by 4 basis points to close at 6.59 per cent as against the last close of 6.55 per cent. Selling pressure was seen across short-term maturities with average yield expanding by 18 basis points, while the average yield across long-term maturities declined by 1 basis point. However, the average yield across medium-term maturities closed flat at 5.99 per cent. Yields on 6 bills advanced with the 11-May-21 maturity bill registering the highest yield increase of 46 basis points, while yields on 18 bills remained unchanged.
The bond market
The FGN bonds secondary market closed on a negative note on Wednesday as the average bond yield across the curve cleared higher by 55 basis points to close at 6.71 per cent from 6.16 per cent on the previous day. Average yields across short tenor and medium tenor of the curve increased by 70 basis points and 7 basis points, respectively. However, the average yield across the long tenor of the curve remained unchanged. The 27-APR-2023 maturity bond was the best performer with a decline in yield of 1 basis point, while the FGN 10-APR-2022 Sukuk bond was the worst performer with an increase in yield of 217 basis points.
