The Nigerian equities market closed negative today as NSE-ASI lost 2.24% to close at 21,700.98pts.
Similarly, in today’s trade, market breadth index was negative with 25 losers against 9 gainers.
Today’s performances were mainly due to the losses recorded in DANGSUGAR (-10.00%), NB (-10.00%), STANBIC (-10.00%), UBA (-10.00%) and WEMABANK (-10.00%) which offset the gains recorded in NEIMETH (+10.00%), MAYBAKER (+8.94%), CUSTODIAN (+8.65%), FLOURMILL (+7.77%) and CAP (+7.69%).
Sector performances were negative today as Banking (-9.00%), Consumer Goods (-3.61%), Oil & Gas (-0.83%) and Industrial (-0.79%) indexes closed in the red.
In terms of activity levels, total volume and value rose by 22% and 13% respectively, compared to last week Friday as investors exchanged over 464 million units of shares worth over N3.87 billion. ZENITHBANK (-9.70%) was the most actively traded stock with about 120 million units of shares worth about N1.30 billion.
The equities market closed down today due to the losses recorded in all sectors. We believe this may be a great period for investors with a medium to long term horizon to pick up some of the quality names at attractive price points.
CURRENCY:
At the IEFX window, the Naira lost 0.96%, 2.30% and 3.39% against GBP, USD and EUR to close at N437.92, N380.75 and N409.55 respectively.
At the parallel market, the Naira lost 6.05%, 2.11% and 0.24% against USD, GBP and EUR to close at N403, N485 and N415 respectively.
Going forward, we expect the FX market to continue to see support from CBN’s intervention sales despite increased pressures.
FIXED INCOME:
Money market rates increased today as Open Buy Back and Overnight rates rose by 120bps and 163bps to close at 6.00% and 6.93% respectively. The increase in rates may be due to FX auction which could have squeezed system liquidity.
The bond market were flat today as yields remained unchanged across most maturities. While the yields on the 5yr and 7yr benchmark bonds increased by 202bps and 7bps to close at 11.53% and 12.76% respectively. It remained flat on the 10yr benchmark bond closing at 12.77%.
In the near term, we expect market activity to be influenced by liquidity levels and foreign investor participation.
