By Bamidele Famoofo
WorldStage– Equities investors took N3.2trillion profit from transactions on the Nigerian bourse on Friday, with the NGX All-Share Index surging 2.10 percent to settle at 244,775.83 points, pushing the year-to-date return to +57.30 percent. The market capitalization closed at ₦157.09 trillion.
Market breadth was broadly positive at 1.4x, as 44 gainers led by NEIMETH, CADBURY, LIVINGTRUST, MECURE, and DANGCEM outpaced 31 losers, with IMG, UACN, ETERNA, LEARNAFRICA, and DEAPCAP recording the most notable losses. Sectoral performance was mixed, as Industrial (+7.26%), Banking (+3.35%), Consumer
Goods (+0.21%), and Oil & Gas (+0.14%) all closed in positive territory, while Insurance (-0.37%) weighed on the index and the Commodity sector ended flat. Trading activity softened across the board, however, as volume, turnover, and deal count declined 36.88 percent, 17.11 percent, and 10.13 percent to 1.16 billion shares, ₦58.82 billion, and 72,909 transactions respectively.
Heading into Monday’s session, the market is expected to sustain its bullish footing as positive sentiment continues to underpin trading activity.
At the money market, Nigerian Interbank Offered Rates closed on a divergent note on Friday, with the overnight rate easing 4bps to 22.33 percent, reflecting improved system liquidity despite the Standing Deposit Facility declining to ₦5.4 trillion. The 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month tenors moved in the opposite direction, edging higher by 12bps, 1bp, and 20bps respectively. Funding costs were equally mixed, as the Overnight rate fell 6bps to 22.19% while the Open Repo rate held steady at 22.00 percent.
In the Treasury Bills secondary market, yields also closed on a mixed note, with the 1-month and 3-month bills declining 23bps and 11bps respectively, while the 6-month and 12-month tenors bucked the trend, advancing 6bps and 17bps respectively. Overall, the average NT-Bills yield settled at 17.51%, reflecting stable investor demand and a broadly cautious tone across the fixed-income space.
The FGN Bonds market closed on a bearish note on Friday, with average yields edging up 1bp to 16.10%, signalling subdued domestic investor confidence and weakening appetite for naira-denominated sovereign debt. The Eurobond market mirrored this negativity, as average yields similarly ticked up 1bp to 6.71%, pointing to softening global investor interest and a broadly unfavourable outlook toward Nigeria’s dollar-denominated sovereign obligations.
At the foreign exchange market, the naira retreated across both market segments on Friday, depreciating 0.41 percent to ₦1,361.40/$ at the NAFEM window and weakening a further 0.36 percent to ₦1,363/$ in the parallel market, reflecting broad-based selling pressure on the local currency across both the official and informal foreign exchange segments.
