BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
Trading in the local bourse edged a positive performance on Thursday, as the All-Share Index notched a 1bp gain to close at 41,813.27 points.
Precisely, investors’ interest in ZENITHBANK (+1.0%) and ACCESS (+1.1%) supported market performance amid sell-offs of DANGSUGAR (-2.9%).
Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns were unchanged at -3.3% and +3.8%, respectively.
The total volume traded increased by 99.8% to 359.96 million units, valued at N1.84 billion, and exchanged in 3,607 deals. JAIZBANK was the most traded stock by volume at 97.76 million units, while ACCESS was the most traded stock by value at N308.38million.
Sectoral performance was mixed as the Oil & Gas (-0.8%), Consumer Goods (-0.3%), and Industrial Goods (-0.1%) indices declined while the Insurance (+2.2%) and Banking (+0.5%) indices posted gains.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (1.7x) as 20 tickers gained relative to 12 losers. CHIPLC (+10.0%) and MBENEFIT (+9.7%) topped the gainers’ list, while FTNCOCOA (-7.5%) and ROYALEX (-4.8%) recorded the most significant losses of the day.
Meanwhile, the naira was flat at N415.00/USD at the I&E window.
In the fixed income market, overnight lending rate contracted by 25bps to 11.3% in the absence of any significant funding pressures on the system.
The NTB secondary market was mixed, albeit with a bullish bias as the average yield contracted slightly by 1bp to 4.4%. Across the curve, the average yield was unchanged at the short and mid segments but pared at the long (-1bp) end following demand for the 301DTM (-11bps) bill. Elsewhere, the average yield was unchanged at 5.5% in the OMO segment.
Trading in the Treasury bond secondary market was mixed, as the average yield pared by 1bp to 11.4%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield was flat at the short and mid segments but contracted at the long (-3bps) end as investors demanded the APR-2049 (-9bps) bond.
