Economy
Bearish Sentiment Dominants T-Bills Market as CBN Mops up N189.7b
By Dipo Olowookere
The treasury bills market was slightly depressed on Thursday with bearish sentiment dominating the market space.
According to analysts at Zedcrest Research, most trading activities at the market yesterday were tilted towards the short end of the curve.
The medium to long end of curve remained muted due to the floatation of another OMO auction by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This was part of efforts by the central bank to mop up inflows from corresponding maturing OMO T-bills and lingering excess cash from FAAC disbursements.
Business Post reports that during the exercise, the apex bank sold treasury bills worth NN189.73 billion.
The CBN eventually succumbed to investor pressure for higher yields amidst weak subscription, raising the stop rate for the longest offered tenor (182days) to 12.50 percent from 12.15 percent offered previously.
A total of N550 billion worth OMO bills were offered to investors by the bank, but it eventually sold N34.30 billion worth of the 63-day bills at 10 percent, N55.34 billion worth of the 126-day bills at 11.50 percent and N100.09 billion worth of the 182-day bills at 12.50 percent.
The shift in stop rates at the OMO auction will likely lead to bearish sentiments in T-bills market especially at the medium to long end of the curve.
“We expect a lethargic trading session tomorrow to wrap up for the week,” Zedcrest Research said.
Meanwhile, interbank lending rates remained relatively stable, as the OBB and OVN closed at 3 percent and 3.83 percent respectively.
System liquidity is estimated to close yesterday at about N600 billion net positive after the sale of a total of N189.73 billion at the OMO auction, which was not sufficient to offset corresponding inflows from N292.52 billion OMO maturities.
The rates are expected to close on a calm note, with no significant outflows expected closing the week. This is however barring another OMO auction by the CBN due to the high systemic liquidity.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended Friday’s trading session lower with a marginal decline of 0.01 per cent as a result of continued market volatility.
Customs Street was down during the last trading session of the week despite bargain-hunting activities in the banking and industrial goods sectors, which closed higher by 0.51 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively.
Business Post reports that profit-taking in the other sectors contributed to the downfall of the local bourse yesterday, with the insurance index weakening by 3.21 per cent.
Further, the energy counter went down by 0.50 per cent, and the consumer goods space depreciated by 0.24 per cent, while the commodity industry closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) shrank by 13.37 points to 105,511.89 points from 105,525.26 points and the market capitalisation declined by N8 billion to settle at N66.147 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N66.155 trillion.
A total of 348.3 million shares worth N8.1 billion exchanged hands in 11,444 deals on Friday compared with the 397.1 million shares valued at N8.7 billion traded in 13,667 deals a day earlier, implying a drop in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 12.29 per cent, 6.90 per cent, and 16.27 per cent, respectively.
The activity log was led by UBA with the sale of 26.3 million stocks for N972.3 million, United Capital traded 25.6 million shares valued at N391.5 million, FCMB exchanged 24.2 million equities worth N211.2 million, Zenith Bank transacted 22.9 million shares valued at N1.1 billion, and Fidelity Bank traded 22.6 million stocks worth N441.7 million.
Investor sentiment remained bearish yesterday after the NGX finished with 19 price gainers and 29 price losers, showing a negative market breadth index.
Lasaco Assurance and AXA Mansard were the worst-performing equities with a decline of 10.00 per cent each to sell for N2.34, and N8.64 apiece, May and Baker decreased by 8.72 per cent to N7.85, Guinea Insurance crashed by 8.70 per cent to 63 Kobo, and FTN Cocoa lost 6.43 per cent to end at N1.60.
However, Learn Africa and Livestock Feeds closed as the best-performing stocks after they gained 10.00 per cent each to quote at N3.30, and N7.92, respectively, VFD Group soared by 9.83 per cent to N57.00, Union Dicon expanded by 9.43 per cent to N5.80, and NGX Group rose by 8.17 per cent to N32.45.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc and Food Concepts Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.21 per cent on Friday, April 4.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Plc lost N1.86 to close at N36.80 per unit compared with Thursday’s closing value of N38.66 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc recorded a 1 Kobo decline to end at N1.17 per share versus the preceding session’s N1.18 per share.
This dragged down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 6.88 points at the close of business to 3,309.46 points from the previous day’s 3,316.34 points and the market capitalisation dropped N3.97 billion to settle at N1.911 trillion, in contrast to the N1.915 trillion it ended at the preceding session.
At the unlisted securities yesterday, the volume of trades increased by 247.9 per cent to 1.3 million units from the 372,568 units transacted in the previous trading day.
Equally, the value of transactions surged by 23.2 per cent to N1.3 million from N4.1 million, but the number of deals went down by 50 per cent to 20 deals from the 40 deals recorded on Thursday.
When the bourse ended for the session, Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 71,2 million units worth N24.2 million, and Geo Fluids Plc with 44.2 million units sold for N89.4 million.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc also remained as the most traded equity by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 13.8 million units valued at N534.7 million, followed by Impresit Bakolori Plc with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 17.8 million units sold for N364.2 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira extended its loss against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by 1.45 per cent or N22.49 on Friday, April 4.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the local currency was exchanged to a Dollar at N1,573.23/$1 during the session compared with the N1,550.74/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.
Similarly, the domestic currency weakened against the Euro in the official market yesterday by N2.91 to settle at N1,725.29/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s N1,722.38/€1 but on the British Pound Sterling, it appreciated by N12.27 to sell for N2,031.02/£1 versus the preceding session’s N2,043.29/£1.
In the black market, the Nigerian currency lost N10 against the greenback on Friday to trade at N1,570/$1 compared with the N1,560/$1 it was transacted a day earlier.
The Naira’s negative outcome aligns with a wider slowdown in the global financial markets as retaliatory tariffs weaken outlook and raise possibility of a recession.
Already, Nigeria could face lower foreign exchange earnings from oil, which could be impacted heavily by tariffs.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it remained mixed after China announced retaliatory tariffs on all goods, responding to President Donald Trump’s Wednesday decision to boost the overall levy on Chinese goods to 54 per cent.
The concensus is that China’s response is not only negative for the US but it is also impacting the global outlook.
Binance Coin (BNB) shed 0.5 per cent to close at $594.69, Cardano (ADA) went down by 0.5 per cent to $0.6561, Litecoin (LTC) dropped 0.4 per cent to close at $84.09, Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled by 0.05 per cent to $83,444.13, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 0.04 per cent to $1,810.12, and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) moderated by 0.03 per cent to $0.9997.
On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 3.1 per cent to $2.13, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 2.8 per cent to $120.63, and Dogecoin (DOGE) leapt by 2.4 per cent to $0.1690, while the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00.
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