Equity Market Extends Gains to Second Consecutive Session… ASI up 64bps

Today’s trading session saw the domestic market extend its positive performance up 0.6 per cent to 32,614.06 points due to gains in bellwether stocks – NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+10.0%), ZENITH (+1.8%) and GUARANTY (+0.8%). Consequently, market capitalisation increased by N77.5 billion to settle at N12.2 trillion while YTD gain stood at 3.8 per cent. Activity level also strengthened as volume and value traded advanced 22.4 per cent and 35.6 per cent to 442.8 million units and N5.6 billion respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were STERLING (105.8m units), GUARANTY (37.4m units) and UBA (33.0m units) while GUARANTY (N1.4bn), NESTLE (N1.2bn) and ZENITH (N434.0m) led the top traded by value.

Performance across sectors was bullish as 4 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the green. The Consumer Goods and Insurance indices led gainers up 1.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively following buying interests in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+10.0%), DANGFLOUR (+5.3%), PRESTIGE (+8.0%) and LAWUNION (+7.8%). The Oil & Gas index and Banking indices trailed, up 1.0 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively on the back of gains in MOBIL (+1.1%), ETERNA (+5.5%), ZENITH (+1.8%) and GUARANTY (+0.8%). On the flip side, sell pressures in DANGCEM (-0.1%) led to a 2bps decline in the Industrial Goods index.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.6x from 1.1x recorded in the previous trading session as 26 stocks advanced against 16 decliners. The best performing stocks were NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+10.0%), CAVERTON (+9.3%) and JAIZBANK (+8.9%) while GOLDINSURE (-9.4%), CUSTODIAN (-6.9%) and AFRIPRUD (-4.6%) led laggards. Following two consecutive sessions of positive performance, we do not rule out the possibility of profit taking in subsequent sessions this week.

Market Statistics Wednesday, 20th February 2019

Market Cap (N’bn)

                                    12,162.3

Market Cap (US$’bn)

39.7

NSE All-Share Index

32,614.06

Daily Performance %

  0.6

1 Week Performance %

0.6

YTD Performance % 

     3.8

Daily Volume (Million)

442.8

Daily Value (N’bn)

5.6

Daily Value (US$’m)

18.4