The Nigerian equities market closed positive at the end of today’s session as the benchmark index improved by 0.14% to close at 41,763.26 points.
This was mainly due to buy pressures in bellwether stocks such as UNILEVER (+9.85%LocalL) and TOTAL (+6.17%). Consequently, the YTD return improved to 3.71% as market capitalisation increased by ₦30.87 billion to close at ₦21.79 trillion.

The sectoral performance significantly strengthened as four of the five indices under coverage improved while the Insurance index declined by 1.75% on NEM (-8.57%). The Oil & Gas index, the biggest gainer, increased by 2.48% on TOTAL (+6.17%). The Consumer Goods, Banking and Industrial indices followed suit, rising by 0.31%, 0.29% and 0.04% on UNILEVER (+9.85%), ZENITHBANK (+0.20%) and WAPCO (+0.40%) respectively.

Investor sentiment closed positive but lower than the previous trading session, as market breadth decreased to 1.21x from 1.28x. This was illustrated by the advance of 23 stocks, led by CUTIX (+10.00%) and UNILEVER (+9.85%) and the decline of 19 stocks, led by NEM (-8.57%) and IKEJAHOTEL (-7.83%). Activity level strengthened as total volume and value increased by 135.98% and 73.47% as investors exchanged about 510.19 million units of shares worth over N5.87 billion.

We expect bullish momentum to persist in the next trading session as the equities market still presents decent opportunities for investors chasing positive real return on investments.

Fixed Income

There was quiet activity across the bond yield curve as 3 of the 4 bond yields under coverage closed flat while the yield on the FGN-JUL-2030 bond paper compressed by 2bps. The yields on the FGN-APR-2023, FGN-APR-2024 and FGN-JAN-2026 closed flat at 8.35%, 9.30% and 11.05% respectively.

Treasury bill yields for the 91 and 364-day papers closed flat at 3.76% and 6.87% respectively while the 182-day paper yield compressed by 76bps to close at 4.59%.

We expect a further decline in yields in the next trading session on the back of huge demand from investors and the deliberate efforts of the DMO to reduce borrowing costs.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

*Local Bourse Closes the Week in Green, NGX ASI Up 14bps

*Quiet Activity across the Bond Yield Curve

*Bullish Sentiment in Global Stocks

*Positive Performance in the Commodities Market

*Bullish Performance in African Stocks

SOURCE:https://brandspurng.com/2021/10/23/local-bourse-closes-the-week-in-green-ngx-asi-up-14bps/

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