The Nigerian Exchange closed the week up 0.48% to settle at 55,794.50 points (from 55,529.21 the week before). As a result, the year-to-date ASI return stood at 8.87%, while market capitalisation increased by N145 billion to close the week atN30.39 trillion.
Two of the five indices we track closed higher, indicating that majority of sectors performed poorly, which was the primary reason for the week’s low return. The Industrial index outperformed the rest, rising 1.71% week on week, ahead of the Insurance Index which pulled+0.70%. The Oil and Gas Index performed the worst, falling by 3.82%, Followed by the Banking(-1.82%) and Consumer Goods (-0.26%) indices. Investors traded 1.023 billion units of shares worth N20.221 billion in 18,650 deals, as opposed to 1.910 billion units of shares worth N18.436billion and traded in 20,311 deals the previous week
The bond market ended the week bullish as investors bought mainly into short and mid-term instruments, particularly the 14-Mar-24 maturity at the short end and 18-Apr-37 at the long end. As a result, average yields fell by 18 basis points to 13.07%, down from 13.25% the previous week.
Following the NT-Bills auction on 8th of March 2023, the 91-day, 182-day and 362-day maturities closed with stop rates at 1.44%, 6.00% and 10.00% vs 3.0%. 3.24% and 9.90% respectively, printed during the last auction.