By Bamidele Famoofo
WorldStage– The Nigerian equities market sustained its bearish momentum on Thursday, with the NGX All-Share Index declining 0.61 percent to settle at 224,321.97 points, pulling the year-to-date return down to +44.15 percent and erasing ₦877.91 billion from market capitalization, which closed at ₦143.95 trillion.
Investor sentiment was broadly negative at a market breadth of 0.4x, as 35 decliners led by NEIMETH, CMFC, FTGINSURE, INTENEGINS, and MCNICHOLS comfortably outpaced 13 advancers, with AUSTINLAZ, LEARNAFRICA, DAARCOMM, UPDC, and CAVERTON recording the most notable gains. Sectoral performance was broadly negative across the board, as Banking (-1.38%), Industrial (-1.00%), Insurance (-0.76%), Oil & Gas (-0.24%), and Consumer Goods (-0.08%) all finished in negative territory, while the Commodity sector ended flat.
Trading activity strengthened considerably, however, with volume, turnover, and deal count surging 75.24 percent, 103.59 percent, and 9.97 percent to 855.4 million shares, ₦28.42 billion, and 51,609 transactions respectively. Looking ahead, the market is expected to sustain its bearish momentum amid ongoing profit-taking activity, though strategic investor repositioning could potentially shift the tide in the coming sessions.
In the interbank market, the NIBOR curve experienced an upward shift across all tenors as a contraction in system liquidity pushed the overnight rate up by 9bps to 22.28 percent. This tightening also impacted the longer-dated papers, with the 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month maturities climbing by 38bps, 80bps, and 118bps respectively, while short-term funding costs diverged as the Overnight (OVN) rate dipped 3bps to 22.18 percent and the Open Repo (OPR) rate held steady at 22.00 percent.
Conversely, trading in the Treasury Bills secondary market took a bullish turn on Thursday, characterized by declining yields across all maturities as the 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month papers dropped by 1bp, 10bps, 15bps, and 12bps respectively. This heightened investor appetite and robust trading volume drove a positive session overall, dragging the average NT-Bills yield down by 4bps to close at 18.61 percent.
The domestic fixed-income market experienced a wave of positive sentiment on Thursday as a rally swept through the FGN Bonds segment. This buying momentum drove average yields down by 3bps to close at 17.79 percent, fueled by strengthened demand from local institutional investors for naira-denominated government securities.
Mirroring the domestic trend, the Eurobond market also enjoyed a strong, positive session. Average yields contracted by 6bps to settle at 7.03 percent, highlighting robust confidence and a bullish outlook from international investors toward Nigeria’s dollar-denominated sovereign debt.
The naira strengthened on Thursday, appreciating 0.16 percent to ₦1,370.15/$ at the official NAFEM window and gaining 0.36 percent to settle at ₦1,383/$ in the parallel market.
