March 22, 2023/Cordros Report
EQUITIES
The Nigerian equities market traded with bullish sentiments, as buying interest in GTCO (+2.4%) pushed the benchmark index higher. Precisely, the All-Share Index advanced by 0.1% to close at 54,936.11 points. Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed -1.6% and +7.2%, respectively.
The total volume traded increased by 5.0% to 134.15 million units, valued at NGN1.33 billion, and exchanged in 2,479 deals. TRANSCORP was the most traded stock by volume at NGN28.12 million, while GTCO was the most traded stock by value at NGN336.90 million.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Insurance (+0.1%) index advanced while the Banking, Industrial Goods, Oil & Gas, and Consumer Goods indices closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.6x), as 14 tickers lost relative to 9 gainers. NCR (-9.7%) and FTNCOCOA (-6.9%) topped the losers’ list, while WAPIC (+2.4%) and GTCO (+2.4%) recorded the highest gains of the day.
CURRENCY
The naira appreciated by 0.1% to NGN461.50/USD at the I&E window.
MONEY MARKET & FIXED INCOME
The overnight lending rate expanded by 119bps to 17.6%, following the settlement for this month’s FGN bond PMA (NGN563.36 billion) that was held on Monday.
Trading activities in the NTB secondary market were bearish, as the average yield expanded by 31bps to 5.7%. Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+12bps), mid (+42bps), and long (+42bps) segments as participants sold off the 78DTM (+37bps), 176DTM (+42bps), and 337DTM (+52bps) bills, respectively. Elsewhere, the average yield was flat at 3.0% in the OMO segment.
The FGN bond secondary market traded with mixed sentiments, but with a bullish bias, as the average yield pared by 1bp to 12.9%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+1bp) end following the sell-off of the MAR-2027 (+6bps) bond but contracted at the long (-4bps) end due to demand for the APR-2049 (-23bps) bond. Conversely, the average yield was flat at the mid segment.
