By Bamidele Famoofo
WorldStage— The Nigerian equities market closed on a positive note on Friday, with the NGX All-Share Index gaining 0.22 percent to settle at 249,712.37 points, lifting the year-to-date return to +60.47 percent and adding ₦344.23 billion to market capitalization, which closed at ₦160.08 trillion.
Market breadth was positive at 1.1x, as 29 advancers led by ALEX, DAARCOMM, RTBRISCOE, LEARNAFRICA, and REDSTAREX outpaced 27 decliners, with TRANSEXPR, TIP, ELLAHLAKES, NEIMETH, and TRIPPLEG recording the most notable losses.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as Industrial (+0.53%), Consumer Goods (+0.28%), Banking (+0.25%), and Oil & Gas (+0.18%) all finished in positive territory, while Insurance (-0.18%) weighed on the index and the Commodity sector ended flat. Trading activity softened across the board, with volume, turnover, and deal count declining 32.76 percent, 6.08 percent, and 0.10 percent to 711.86 million shares, ₦28.08 billion, and 62,386 transactions respectively.
Heading into Monday’s session, the market is expected to sustain its bullish tone, underpinned by renewed investor confidence and ongoing portfolio readjustment.
At the money market, Nigerian interbank offered rates closed on a varied note on Friday, with the overnight rate easing 1bp to 22.25 percent, reflecting improved system liquidity. The 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month tenors moved in the opposite direction, however, climbing 4bps, 57bps, and 62bps respectively. Funding costs were divergent, as the Overnight rate edged up 6bps to 22.24 percent while the Open Repo rate remained unchanged at 22.00 percent.
In the Treasury Bills secondary market, yields closed on a mixed note, with the 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month bills declining 3bps, 3bps, and 6bps respectively, while the 12-month tenor bucked the trend with an 18bps uptick. Overall, the average NT-Bills yield settled at 17.52 percent, reflecting increased investor demand and a broadly positive tone across the fixed income space.
