Kayode Ogunwale

The bulls dominated the equities market today, with the All-Share index rising 3.56 per cent to 83,191.84 points. Today’s performance was driven by gains in MTN Nigeria (+3.51 per cent), Dangote Cement (+3.72 per cent), BUA Foods (+5.59 per cent), Zenith Bank (+9.99 per cent), and FBN Holdings (+10 per cent).

In line with positive market performance, market capitalization increased by N1.56 trillion to N45.52 trillion, while All Share Index year till date rose to 11.26 per cent.

Fidelity Bank was the most traded stock by volume, accounting for 10.1 per cent of the total volume traded, while UBA was the most traded value, accounting for 15.3 per cent of the total amount exchanged. As a result, trading volume and value increased by 18.46 per cent and 61.77 per cent, to 1.41 billion units and N24.6 billion, respectively.

Transaction metrics were positive, with volume and value increasing by 33.3 per cent and 6.48 per cent, respectively. In actual terms, 1.19 million units worth N15.26 billion were traded, with Transcorp accounting for 25.1 per cent of the overall volume and 26.7 per cent of the value transacted.

The oil and Gas index emerges as the sole decliner

The Banking (+8.16 per cent), Insurance (+6.37 per cent), Consumer Goods (+3.98 per cent), and Industrial Goods (+2.53 per cent) indices closed positive owing to buy pressure in Zenith Bank (+9.99 per cent), AIICO (+9.52 per cent), BUA Foods (+5.59 per cent), and Dangote Cement (+3.72 per cent). On the flip side, Oil and Gas (-2.35 per cent) closed lower due to selloffs in TOTAL (-10.00 per cent).

However sentiment in the bond market was positive as average bond yields declined by 21bps to 13.51 per cent.

Activities in this market were seen at the short (-25 basis points), mid (2 basis points), and long (-30 basis points) segments of the curve. Specifically, demand was seen on the March 2024 (-92 basis points), April 2037 (-68 basis points), and June 2038 (-57 basis points) maturities.

Meanwhile, money market rates further depreciated as the OPR and O/N rates declined by 242 basis points and 150 basis points to 4.63 per cent and 7.00 per cent, respectively.