By Bamidele Famoofo
WorldStage– The Nigerian equities market extended its bullish momentum on Thursday, with the NGX All-Share Index advancing 0.62 percent to close at 243,958.73 points, pushing the year-to-date return to +56.77 percent and adding ₦961.75 billion to market capitalization, which closed at ₦155.55 trillion.
Investor sentiment was positive at a market breadth of 1.125x, as 27 advancers led by INTBREW, FIRSTHOLDCO, ABBEYBANK, TRANSEXPR, and HONYFLOUR outpaced 24 decliners, with THOMASWY, GEREGU, MCNICHOLS, UPDC, and NEIMETH recording the most notable losses.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as Banking (+1.33%), Consumer Goods (+1.21%), and Insurance (+0.26%) all finished in positive territory, while Commodity (-1.05%) and Oil & Gas (-0.19%) weighed on the index, and industrial sector closed flat. Trading activity was varied, as volume and value surged 219.45 percent and 392.14 percent to 1.66 billion shares and N11.98 billion, while deal count declined 7.66 percent and 2.95% to 44,780 transactions r. Looking ahead, the market is expected to sustain its recovery momentum, underpinned by ongoing strategic investor repositioning and portfolio rebalancing.
The interbank market recorded a marginally bullish session on Thursday as the overnight NIBOR closed flat at 22.21 percent despite reduced system liquidity. However, longer-dated maturities dipped slightly, pulling the 1-month, 3-month, and 6- month rates down by 0.2bp each, while short-term funding costs diverged as the Overnight rate rose 7bps to 22.20 percent and the Open Repo rate held steady at 22.00 percent.
Meanwhile, Treasury Bills secondary market trading closed varied. Yields on the 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month papers fell by 18bps, 20bps, and 46bps respectively, whereas the 12-month bill advanced by 3bps. Nonetheless, strong trading volumes and robust investor appetite pulled the average NT-Bills yield down by 5bps to close at 18.45 percent.
The domestic fixed-income market maintained a positive tone on Thursday as an FGN Bonds rally dragged average yields down by 6bps to 17.64%. This buying momentum was driven by robust demand from local institutional investors for nairadenominated papers.
Similarly, the Eurobond market closed positive, with average yields declining by 5bps to settle at 6.98 percent. The downtrend reflects improved international investor confidence and a stronger outlook toward Nigeria’s dollar-denominated sovereign debt.
At the forex market, naira recorded a mixed performance on Thursday, experiencing divergent movements across the major trading windows. It appreciated by 0.05 percent to close at ₦1,378.43/$ at the official NAFEM window, but lost ground in the parallel market, where it depreciated by 0.14 percent to settle at ₦1,380/$.
