BY
BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
Month to Date loss in the equities market lincreased to -3.6% on Thursday on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited as investors continue to selloff the shares of Dangote Cement for gains.
Dangote Cement, the biggest capitalised stock on the Exchange sheds -10% off its share price as a result of the selloffs.
The All-Share Index declined by 1.8% to 41,685.22 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date loss increased to -3.6%, while the Year-to-Date return moderated to +3.5%.
The total volume traded decreased by 27.1% to 473.47 million units, valued at N5.18 billion, and exchanged in 3,874 deals. FBNH was the most traded stock by volume and value at 228.53 million units and N2.61 billion, respectively.
Across sectors, the Oil & Gas gained 1.7%, Banking, 1.6%, Insurance, 1.1%, and Consumer Goods , 0.1% while the Industrial Goods (-5.3%) index declined.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.5x) as 21 tickers gained relative to 14 losers. OANDO (+8.8%) and WAPIC (+8.5%) recorded the highest gains of the day, while DANGCEM (-10.0%) and UACN (-10.0%) topped the losers’ list.
In the money market, the naira was flat at N415.07/USD at the I&E window. The overnight lending rate contracted by 200bps to 14.3% in the absence of any significant funding pressures.
The NTB secondary market remained mixed, albeit with a bullish tilt, as the average yield contracted slightly by 3bps to 4.5%.
Across the curve, the average yield stayed flat at the short and mid segments but contracted at the long (-5bps) end following demand for the 322DTM (-44bps) bill. Similarly, the average yield contracted by 3bps to 5.5% in the OMO segment. The Treasury bond secondary market traded quietly as the average yield was unchanged at 11.4%.
