…The Naira depreciated by 0.15% to close at ₦1,380.79
Ahead of the Easter holiday, the Nigerian equities market closed the week on a quiet bearish note, as the All-Share Index slipped marginally by 0.2 basis points to settle at 201,698.89 points. The muted decline reflects a cautious trading session, with investors largely taking a wait-and-see stance as holiday mood dampened market activity and limited aggressive positioning.
The marginal decline was fuelled by NB, MBENEFIT, OANDO, FCMB, UBA, CHAMPION, ACCESSCORP and 17 other laggards.
Consequently, the year-to-date return was maintained at 29.62%, while market capitalization declined by 0.002% to ₦129.81 trillion, reflecting a ₦3.00 million loss of investors’ wealth.
Sectoral performance closed mixed. The Insurance index led the gainers, up 0.54%, buoyed by strong advances in FTGINSURE, SOVRENINS and PRESTIGE. Similarly, the Banking index rose 0.13%, supported by gains in JAIZBANK, GTCO, WEMABANK and FIDELITYBK. On the downside, the Consumer Goods index shed 0.41%, with losses in NB, INTBREW, HONYFLOUR and CHAMPION.
The Oil & Gas index dipped 0.10%, pressured by the decline in OANDO, while the Industrial Goods index closed flat at 0.00%, as gains in JBERGER and CUTIX offset the absence of significant directional movement across the broader segment.
MARKET ACTIVITY: Market activity was negative, as traded volume and value declined by 31.33% and 42.14% to 559.98 million units and ₦19.26 billion.
MARKET BREADTH: The market breadth, which measures investor sentiment through the Gainers/Losers ratio, increased to 1.42x from 0.54x as 34 stocks appreciated, 24 stocks depreciated, and 73 stocks closed flat.
FIXED INCOME MARKET: The Fixed Income data was unavailable at the time of this report.
CURRENCY MARKET: The Naira depreciated by 0.15% to close at ₦1,380.79
