For five consecutive days, Nigerian bourse remains upbeat as Index up 1.98% Thursday

The Nigerian equities market was significantly bullish on Thursday as the market All-Share Index  (the ASI) rose for the fifth consecutive day, gaining 1.98 per cent, the largest daily gain since Dec. 24, 2018, to close at 31,433.49  points, driven by interest across various large-cap stocks.

Consequently, the Month-to-Date gain grew to 2.87 per cent and the Year-to-Date return moved into positive territory, for the first time this year, at 0.01 per cent.

All sector indices closed positive with the Banking (+5.78%) index recording the largest gain, followed by the Industrial Goods (+1.47%), Oil and Gas (+0.84%), Consumer Goods (+0.64%) and Insurance (+0.50%) indices. Notable stocks across the indices include GUARANTY (+9.51%), DANGCEM (+1.60%), FO (+10.00%), DANGSUGAR (+6.25%), and MANSARD (+3.57%) respectively.

Market breadth was positive with 25 gainers and 12 losers, led by FO (+10.00%) and TRANSEXPR (-8.70%). The total volume and value traded expanded by 21.84% and 21.80% to NGN436.7 million and NGN5.88 billion, respectively, and exchanged in 4,047 deals.

“Our outlook for equities in the short-to-medium term remains conservative ahead of the upcoming general elections. However, we expect the stable macroeconomic fundamentals to drive recovery in the long-term”, analysts at Cordros Capital said.

The currency market strengthened by 0.02 per cent to NGN361.64 in the I&E FX window and remained flat at NGN361.00 in the parallel market. Total turnover in the IEW declined by 21 per cent to USD348.48 million, with trades consummated within the NGN358.00-364.25/USD band.

The overnight lending rate declined by 342 bps to 18.42 per cent, following inflows from matured OMO bills (NGN315.32 billion). The CBN mopped up NGN320.97 billion via OMO auction, selling NGN39.90 billion of the 119DTM, NGN10.59 billion of the 182DTM and NGN270.48 billion of the 364DTM, at respective stop rates of 11.90 per cent, 13.50 per cent and 15.00 per cent.

Trading in the treasury bills market was bearish, as average yield expanded by 12 bps to 14.57 percent.  Investors sold off at the short (+36 bps) and long (+5 bps) ends of the curve, with the 42DTM (+159 bps) and 210DTM (+61 bps) bills recording significant expansions, respectively. Yield at the mid segment was flat.

Bullish sentiments persisted in the bond market, as average yield compressed 11 bps to 14.78 per cent. Buy sentiment was spread across the short (-5 bps), mid (-9 bps) and long (-25 bps) segments amidst demand for the JUL-2021 (-22 bps), JUL-2030 (-15 bps) and MAR-2036 (-28 bps) bonds, respectively.