Nigerian Equities market opens in the green as investors gain N69.1bn

The bulls dominated the equities market today as the ASI rose 0.5% to 26,456.39 points following price appreciation in DANGCEM (+1.0%), CCNN (+9.1%) and ACCESS (+3.8%). Consequently, YTD return eased to -15.8% while market capitalisation increased by N69.1bn to N12.9tn. Activity level was mixed as volume traded fell 12.5% to 378.3m units while value traded rose 28.2% to N7.2bn. The most active stocks by volume were NIGERIAN BREWERIES (36.0m units), FIDELITY (17.7m units) and UBA (17.4m units) while NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N1.7bn), ZENITH (N1.5bn) and GUARANTY (N1.1bn) led by value.  

Performance across sectors was bullish as 5 of 6 sectors under our coverage gained. The Industrial Goods (+1.6%) and Banking (+1.3%) indices led gainers, driven by price appreciation in DANGCEM (+1.0%), CCNN (+9.1%) as well as ACCESS (+3.8%) and UBA (+4.5%). Similarly, the Consumer Goods (+0.3%) and Insurance (+0.2%) indices trailed, due to gains in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.5%), HONEYFLOUR (+4.1%), CHIPLC (+7.7%) and LASACO (+3.9%). Finally, AFR-ICT index closed 5bps higher due to buying interest in MTNN (+4bps) while the Oil & Gas index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) steadied at 1.6x as 18 stocks gained against 11 decliners. The top gainers were CCNN (+9.1%), UNIONDAC (+9.1%) and CORNERSTONE (+8.2%) while IKEJAHOTEL (-9.3%), COURTVILLE (-8.7%) and WAPCO (-3.7%) were the top losers. We do not expect today’s gains to be sustained as sentiment towards equities remains lacklustre.

Market Statistics for Tuesday, 12th November, 2019