Equities Market Closed Negative As Market Capitalization Lost N122.4Bn

Afolabi Sotunde Illustration Naira

The Nigerian equities market closed on a bearish note today, 3rd of March, 2021 following selloffs in large and mid-cap stocks.

At the close of market proceedings, the benchmark All Share Index (ASI) waned by 58bps to close at 39,697.62 while market capitalization shed N122.43bn to settle at N20.77tn. Consequently, the year-to-date performance adjusted to -1.42%.

The breakdown of performance across sectors indicates a significant bearish mood as 4 out of the 5 sectors under coverage closed negative. The Consumer Goods index topped the losers’ chart with a 3.86% decline following losses in CHAMPION(-9.69%) and NESTLE(-6.90%). Similarly, the Banking, Industrial and Oil & Gas indices went down by 0.12%, 0.41% and 0.88% on the back of selloffs in UBA(-1.80%), WAPCO(-7.90%) and ARDOVA(-9.97%). On the other hand, the Insurance index advanced by 0.21% as a result of gains recorded in LASACO(+7.14%) and PRESTiGE(+6.98%).

Afolabi Sotunde Illustration Naira

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Market breadth measured by the number of advancers and decliners printed at 0.65x indicating bearish sentiments. There was however improvement in market activity as the value of transactions traded increased by 185.47%.

Equities Market Closed Negative As Market Capitalization Lost N122.4Bn

Fixed Income Market

The bond market traded on a bearish note with yields advancing across the short end of the curve. Notably, the yield on the FGN-APR-2023 advanced by 21bps to 7.10%. The yields across longer tenors however remain stable.

The Treasury bills market traded on a muted note as yields remain stable across different tenors. Yields on the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day maturities stabilized at 1.19%, 2.02% and 2.07% respectively.

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