By Bamidele Famoofo
WorldStage– The Nigerian equities market rebounded from Monday’s subdued performance to close higher on Tuesday, as the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) gained 0.46 percent to settle at 242,870.44 points. Consequently, the market’s year-to-date return improved to 56.07 percent, while market capitalization increased by approximately ₦719 billion to ₦155.85 trillion.
Investor sentiment remained positive, with a market breadth of 1.09x, as 24 gainers outpaced 22 losers. LEARNAFRICA, FIRSTHOLDCO, THOMASWY, NREIT, and RTBRISCOE emerged as the top gainers, while INTENEGINS, LEGEND, FTGINSURE, FTNCOCOA, and INTBREW recorded the steepest losses. Sectoral performance was mixed, with the Banking (+2.28%) and Insurance (+0.48%) indices posting gains, while the Consumer Goods (-0.97%) and Oil & Gas (-0.10%) indices closed lower.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Goods and Commodity indices closed unchanged. Market activity was broadly positive despite a decline in the number of deals. Trading volume and value advanced by 21.25 percent and 139.44 percent, respectively, to 634.78 million shares and ₦53.34 billion, while the number of transactions declined by 29.11 percent to 42,494 trades.
Looking ahead, Stock market experts expect the market’s recovery to be sustained, supported by continued strategic investor repositioning and portfolio rebalancing. However, intermittent profit-taking in recently appreciated stocks could moderate the pace of further gains.
The interbank market traded lower across all tenors on Tuesday, reflecting improved system liquidity. Accordingly, the overnight, 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month NIBOR declined by 8bps, 23bps, 45bps, and 59bps, respectively. Meanwhile, funding rates were mixed, with the Overnight rate rising by 9bps to 22.18 percent, while the Open Repo rate remained unchanged at 22.00 percent.
Meanwhile, the Treasury Bills secondary market closed on a bullish note as buying interest drove yields lower across most maturities. Yields on the 1-month, 3-month, and 12-month papers fell by 6bps, 12bps, and 5bps, respectively, while the 6-month tenor rose by 3bps. Consequently, the average NT-Bills yield declined by 6bps to 18.41 percent.
The domestic fixed-income market traded on a mildly bullish note on Monday, with improved demand driving the average FGN bond yield down by 2bps to 17.62 percent. Similarly, the Eurobond market strengthened as the average yield declined by 4bps to 6.93 percent, reflecting sustained investor appetite for Nigeria’s dollar-denominated debt.
The naira closed lower on Tuesday, weakening across both major trading windows. It depreciated by 0.25 percent to close at ₦1,383.08/$ at the official NAFEM window, while also losing 0.07 percent in the parallel market to settle at ₦1,382/$.
