The equities market revisited by the bears on Tuesday as investors lost N118.4bn from sell-offs in DangCem, Ecobank, Fidelity Bank

Charles Abuede

The bears revisited the Nigerian Equities Market on Tuesday to reverse previous session gains as the Nigerian Bourse continues its staggering movement which saw the All Share Index dipped by 0.57 per cent in the session to close at 39,267.11 basis points. This outing pegged the market capitalization at N20.54 trillion from N20.66 trillion on Monday as investors lost N118.4 billion from their net worth. Consequently, the market year to date return worsened to -2.5 per cent.

At the close of trade, the local bourse posted a negative performance due to sell-offs in Dangote Cement (-4.0%), Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (-4.7%), and Fidelity Bank (-2.9%). Similarly, the trading activity level waned as the volume and value of transaction exchanged on Tuesday declined 35.6 per cent and 69.3 per cent respectively to 336.1 million units and N3.3 billion. To this, the most traded stocks by volume were Union Bank (78.9m units), Courtville (43.9m units), and GTBank (29.0m units) while GTBank (N955.1m), Zenith Bank (N560.5m), and Union Bank (N418.1m) led by value.

Furthermore, across the sectors witnessed mixed performance as 2 indicators gained, 2 lost and 2 closed flat as the banking and consumer goods indices rose 0.9 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively due to price appreciation in Zenith Bank (+2.5%), United Bank for Africa (+4.4%), Dangote Sugar (+0.6%), and Guinness Nigeria Plc (+1.4%). Conversely, the Industrial goods and Insurance indices fell 1.9 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively on the account of sell-offs in Dangote Cement (-4.0%), AIICO insurance (-4.0%) and Prestige Assurance (-8.9%). Finally, the oil & gas and the ICT indices closed flat for the day.

On the other hand, Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth weakened to 1.7x from the 2.3x recorded previously as 22 stocks gained against 13 decliners. Livestock Feed Processors (+9.7%), Cornerstone Insurance (+9.1%) and CourtVille (+9.1%) were the top gainers while Regency Alliance Insurance (-9.1%), Prestige Assurance (-8.9%) and DAAR Communications (-8.0%) were the top decliners.

NSE 30

Elsewhere, the NSE 30 Index decreased by 0.53 per cent to close at 1,566.29 points as against 1,574.65 points as on the previous day. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 205.21 million units. UBA and Presco were the key gainers, while Ecobank and Dangote Cement were the key losers.

FX Market

In the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, the Naira appreciated by 0.03 per cent at the Investors and Exporters segment as the dollar was quoted at N409 as against the last close of N409.13. Meanwhile, the local currency traded at N486 per dollar at the street market as most market participants maintained bids between N400 and N410.50 per dollar.

Treasury Bills

In the treasury bills secondary market, there was a positive close with average yield across the curve decreasing by 9 basis points to close 4.13 per cent from 4.22 per cent on the previous day. The average yields across short-term and medium-term maturities declined by 7 basis points and 27 basis points, respectively. However, the average yield across long-term maturities closed flat at 5.34 per cent. Yields on 5 bills declined with the 15-Jul-21 maturity bill recording the highest yield decline of 60 basis points, while yields on 14 bills remained unchanged.

In the OMO bills market, the average yield across the curve decreased by 4 basis points to close at 6.45 per cent as against the last close of 6.49 per cent. Buying interest was seen across medium-term and long-term maturities with average yield declining by 11 basis points and 4 basis points, respectively. However, the average yields across short-term and maturities remained unchanged at 4.21 per cent. Yields on 4 bills compressed with the 24-Aug-21 maturity bill recording the highest yield decline of 43 basis points, while yields on 20 bills remained unchanged.

Bond market

In the bonds market, the FGN bonds secondary market closed on a mildly positive note as the average bond yield across the curve cleared lower by 3 basis points to close at 6.74 per cent from 6.77 per cent on the previous day. Average yields across short and long tenors of the curve declined by 4 basis points and 2 basis points, respectively. However, the average yields across the medium tenor of the curve increased by 5 basis points. The FGN 10-JUL-2021 Sukuk bond was the best performer with a decline in yield of 33 basis points, while the 22-JAN-2026 maturity bond was the worst performer with an increase in yield of 20 basis points.