By Bamidele Famoofo
WorldStage– Investors in the Nigerian equities market lost N782.44 billion at the close of trading on Tuesday, with the NGX All-Share Index declining by 0.50 percent to 241,984.80 points, reducing the year-to-date return to +55.50 percent, reducing market capitalization to ₦155.20 trillion.
Market breadth remained negative at 0.51x, as 37 decliners outweighed 19 advancers. Sectoral performance was broadly bearish, with Banking (-2.82%), Consumer Goods (-0.52%), Insurance (-0.10%), Oil & Gas (-0.03%), and Industrial (-0.001%) indices closing lower. Trading activity was mixed, as deals and volume fell by 31.93 percent and 28.11 percent to 55,123 trades and 535.53 million shares, while turnover increased by 1.11 percent to ₦36.84 billion. The market outlook remains cautious, with profit-taking pressures and lingering Oil & Gas sector uncertainties likely to weigh on investor sentiment.
At the money market, the Nigerian Interbank Offered Rates (NIBOR) declined across most maturities on Tuesday, despite a 2bps increase in the overnight tenor to 22.23 percent, indicating tighter system liquidity despite ₦711 billion OMO bill inflows and ₦2.2 trillion FAAC disbursements. The 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month tenors fell by 29bps, 37bps, and 55bps, respectively. Funding rates were mixed, with the Overnight rate rising by 3bps to 22.26 percent, while the Open Repo (OPR) rate remained unchanged at 22.00 percent.
In the Treasury Bills secondary market, yields closed mixed as the 1-month and 3-month instruments advanced by 38 basis points and 17 basis points, respectively, while the 12-month bill eased by 3 basis points. The 6-month bill remained unchanged. Consequently, the average NT-Bills yield settled at 17.77 percent, reflecting a bearish market sentiment amid subdued investor demand and cautious participation across the fixed-income market.
The FGN Bonds market remained largely subdued on Tuesday, with average yields holding steady at 16.82 percent, reflecting cautious investor sentiment and continued moderation in demand for naira-denominated sovereign securities.
In contrast, the Eurobond market experienced bearish sentiment as average yields rose by 8 basis points to 6.8 percent. The increase in yields suggests softer demand from offshore investors and a more cautious outlook toward Nigeria’s dollar-denominated sovereign debt instruments amid prevailing global market uncertainties.
The naira traded mixed on Tuesday, depreciating by 0.07 percent to ₦1,357.18/US$ at the NAFEM window, while remaining unchanged at ₦1,373/US$ in the parallel market, reflecting cautious market activity across both FX segments.
