Domestic Equities Market investors gain N51.5 bn

At the close of trade today, the local bourse gained as the All Share Index (ASI) inched higher by 39bps to 27,153.53 points. Investors gained N51.5bn in value as market capitalisation rose to N13.2tn while YTD loss eased to –13.6%. However, activity level weakened as volume and value traded fell 41.9% and 70.2% to 211.5m units and N1.4bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were COURTVILLE (35.2m units), STERLING (34.7m units) and ACCESS (29.9m units) while ACCESS (N208.4m), ZENITH (N206.8m) and SEPLAT (N147.8m) led by value.

Across sectors, performance was largely bullish as 4 of 6 indices under our coverage closed in the green. The Oil & Gas index led gainers, up 2.8% as investors took position in SEPLAT (+5.6%) while the Consumer Goods index trailed, up 1.6% as NESTLE (+3.7%) buoyed the sector after two consecutive days of losses. Similarly, the Banking and Industrial Goods indices rose 0.3% and 0.2% respectively following gains in FCMB (+5.8%), ACCESS (+0.7%), UBA (+0.8%) and CCNN (+1.5%). On the flip side, the Insurance index extended losses, down 1.3% due to sell pressures in MANSARD (-2.8%), LINKASSURE (-5.8%) and AIICO (-4.7%) while the AFR-ICT index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) remained unchanged at 1.5x from the previous trading session as 19 stocks advanced against 13 stocks that declined. The top performers were MAYBAKER (+10.0%), UNIONDAC (+8.7%) and UAC-PROP (+5.9%) while CHAMS (-7.7%), LIVESTOCK (-7.7%) and LINKASSURE (-5.8%) led losers. Despite the positive performance of the benchmark index today, we expect market performance to be bearish in subsequent sessions in the absence of any market catalyst. Nevertheless, we do not rule out the possibility of bargain hunting activities.

Market Statistics Wednesday, 11th September 2019