By Bamidele Famoofo
WorldStage– Investors in the equities market in Africa’s fourth largest economy had their wallets swelled by N1.58 trillion on Thursday, with the NGX All-Share Index advancing 0.98 percent to close at 247,831.4 points.
The rally largely by Banking stocks and followed at a distance by Industrial stocks, pushed the year-to-date return to +59.26 percent, raising market capitalization to ₦159.89 trillion.
Investor sentiment was positive at a market breadth of 1.3x, as 35 advancers led by Guinness, Zichis, Accesscorp, Firstholdco, and Updcreit outpaced 27 decliners, with Mecure, Ftncocoa, Omatek, Afriprud, and Cornerst recording the most notable losses.
Sectoral performance was mostly positive, as Banking (+3.92%), Industrial (+1.27%), Insurance (+0.75%), Consumer Goods (+0.63%), and Oil & Gas (+0.04%) all finished in positive territory, while the Commodity sector ended flat. Trading activity weakened across the board, however, as volume, turnover, and deal count declined 37.54 percent, 52.36 percent, and 2.50 percent to 782.35 million shares, ₦56.30 billion, and 46,273 transactions respectively.
Looking ahead, the market is expected to sustain its positive momentum, underpinned by strategic portfolio rebalancing, though profit-taking in recently appreciated counters could temper the pace of any recovery.
Money Market
Boosted by over ₦29 billion in primary market repayments, the interbank market closed positive on Thursday as the overnight NIBOR fell 4bps to 22.24%. Longer-dated tenors similarly declined, with 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month rates dropping by 16bps, 31bps, and 0.1bps respectively. Funding costs diverged as the Overnight rate slipped 2bps to 22.21 percent while the Open Repo rate held flat at 22.00 percent.
Meanwhile, the Treasury Bills secondary market delivered mixed results across tenors. Yields on the 1-month and 6-month papers rose by 2bps and 36bps, whereas the 3-month and 12-month bills dropped 17bps and 6bps. Strong trading activity and investor appetite ultimately pulled the average NT-Bills yield down 4bps to 18.13 percent.
Bond Market
The domestic fixed-income market closed positive on Thursday as strong local demand pulled average FGN Bond yields down 9bps to 17.39 percent. Conversely, the Eurobond market retreated, with average yields rising 3bps to 6.96% due to softer international appetite for Nigeria’s dollar-denominated debt.
Foreign Exchange MarketThe naira delivered a strong performance on Thursday, strengthening by 0.14 percent to close at ₦1,367.76/$ at the official NAFEM window while holding steady in the parallel market at ₦1,377/$.
