The equities market declined for the third consecutive day, reflecting waning investor sentiment following the CBN’s interest rate hike and its potential impact on the market.
The All-Share Index dropped by 21 basis points to close at 100,156.96 points, indicating widespread sell pressure.
Similarly, the market capitalisation of listed equities fell by 0.21 percent, closing at N56.71 trillion and resulting in a total market loss of N118 billion on Thursday.
The Exchange recorded more decliners (25) than gainers (12). Despite this, market breadth was positive, driven by significant increases in traded volume and value, which surged by 169.08 percent and 12.43 percent, totaling 1.34 billion units and N9.67 billion, respectively. However, the total number of deals for the day declined by 2.54 percent to 8,198.
Sectoral performance was mostly downbeat, with the Oil/Gas sector emerging as the sole gainer with a modest 0.01 percent increase. The Banking, Insurance, Consumer Goods, and Industrial Goods indices fell by 1.59 percent, 0.72 percent, 0.32 percent, and 0.01 percent, respectively.
Among individual stocks, the top gainers included CUSTODIAN (+8.51%), LIVESTOCK (+3.91%), WAPIC (+3.90%), OANDO (+3.06%), and UCAP (+2.70%).
Conversely, OMATEK (-10.00%), CUTIX (-9.51%), FCMB (-8.75%), LINKASSURE (-7.53%), and CONHALLPLC (-7.14%) saw significant share price declines.
TOURIST emerged as the most traded security in terms of both volume and value, with 973.34 million units valued at N2.79 billion transacted in a single trade.
In the money market, NIBOR declined for most tenors, reflecting increased liquidity in the financial system.
Notably, the Overnight Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate (NIBOR) decreased by 505 basis points to 30.08 percent.
This decline is attributed to the OMO and T-bills maturity, along with last week’s shared allocation, which has now permeated the market.
Similarly, key money market rates such as the Open Repo Rate (OPR) and Overnight Lending Rate (OVN) also fell, closing at 26.45 percent and 27.08 percent, respectively, down from 34.88 percent and 35.53 percent the previous day.
The Nigerian Interbank Treasury Bills True Yield (NITTY) rates closed mixed.
However, the secondary market for Nigerian Treasury Bills was active and bullish due to rising investor sentiment, resulting in a drop in the average T-bills yield by 1 basis point to 22.52 percent.
In the bond market, trading activity at the secondary FGN Bonds market was moderately bearish, resulting in a 0.01 percent increase in the average yield to 19.45 percent.
In the sovereign Eurobonds market, waning sentiment was observed across various maturities, leading to a 21-basis points uptrend in the average yield to 10.20 percent.
Foreign Exchange Market In the official NAFEM market, the naira closed at ₦1,603.80 per dollar, 1.08 percent depreciation from the previous close. In the parallel market, the naira closed the day at an average of N1, 565 per dollar.
