Bears continue dominance as sell off persists on NSE, down 1.89% Thursday

Against marked sell-offs across bellwether stocks, the Nigeria’s equities market closed the last session of the month on a negative note as the ASI dipped by 1.89 per cent on Thursday to 30,557.20 points.

Thus, Month-to-Date loss notched significantly higher to 2.78 per cent

All sector indices closed negative – The Banking (-2.54%), Consumer Goods (-1.71%), Oil & Gas (-0.39%), Industrial (-0.97%), and Insurance (-1.43%). The notable stocks include, ETI (-6.67%), NB (-5.13%), OANDO (-2.94%), DANGCEM (-2.06%), and CUSTODIA (-6.06%) respectively.

Market breadth was also negative with 32 losers and 8 gainers, led by REDSTAREX (-9.09%) and LEARNAFRCA (+8.73%) stocks respectively. Total volume traded surged by 40.0% to 349.31 million units, valued at NGN3.49 billion, and exchanged in 4,228 deals.

“Our outlook for equities in the near-to-medium term is negative, and we guide investors to trade cautiously, amidst absence of a near term positive catalyst and political jitters ahead of the upcoming 2019 elections. However, macroeconomic fundamentals remain stable and supportive of recovery in the long term”, analysts at Cordros Capital said.

The currency market recorded that the USD/NGN strengthened by 0.08 per cent to NGN363.03 and 0.55 per cent to NGN361.00 in the I&E FX window and at the parallel market respectively. Total turnover in the IEW increased by 44.6 per cent  to USD231.46 million, with trades consummated within the NGN356.00-365.50/USD band.

On the heel of improved system liquidity, the overnight lending rate expanded by 686 bps to 11.36 per cent, from 4.50 per cent on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the CBN sustained its intolerance for liquidity surfeit, selling a total of NGN400.55 – NGN82.96 billion of the 112DTM, NGN46.62 billion of the 203DTM, NGN270.97 billion of the 364DTM and NGN50.00 billion in special OMO – worth of bills, at respective stop rates of 11.90 per cent, 13.50 per cent, 15.00 per cent, and 15.00 per cent respectively.

Proceedings in the treasury bills market were bullish, as average yield moderated by 19 bps to 14.63 per cent. Yield contracted across all segments – short (-45 bps), mid (-26 bps), long (-2 bps)–. Notable bills include, the 50DTM (+168 bps), 99DTM (+134 bps), and 218DTM (+19 bps) respectively.

Activities in the bond market took a cue from the T-bills market, as average yield contracted by 8 bps to 15.01 per cent. There were buying sentiments across the short (-8 bps), mid (-6 bps), and the long (-10 bps) end of the curve, underpinned by the SEP-2019 (-55 bps), FEB-2028 (-19 bps), and NOV-2029 (-15 bps) bond.