Bears maintain grip on Nigerian Stock Market… ASI down 2bps

In today’s trading session, the benchmark index sustained losses, declining 2bps to 26,938.58 points, due to sell-offs in STERLING (-6.3%), UBA (-1.4%) and ZENITH (-0.5%). As a result, YTD loss stood at -14.3% while market capitalisation decreased by N2.8bn to N13.0tn. Also, activity level waned as volume and value traded fell 40.3% and 62.7% to 112.9m units and N1.1bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were ZENITH (15.9m units), FCMB (15.2m units) and UBA (12.9m units) while ZENITH (N296.9m), GUARANTY (N183.9m) and UBA (N90.7m) were the top traded stocks by value.

Across sectors, performance was bullish as 3 of 6 indices under our coverage advanced while the AFR-ICT closed flat. The Insurance index gained the most, up 0.8% following price appreciation in NEM (+5.3%) and AIICO (+2.8%). Similarly, the Industrial and Consumer Goods indices rose 0.3% and 0.2% respectively, driven by bargain hunting in CCNN (+1.1%), WAPCO (+0.4%), UNILEVER (+2.4%) and INTBREW (+1.0%). On the flip side, sell-offs in STERLING (-6.3%), UBA (-1.4%), ZENITH (-0.5%) and OANDO (-2.2%) drove declines in the Banking and Oil & Gas indices, down 0.5% and 0.2% respectively. 

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.2x from 0.7x recorded in the previous trading session as 16 stocks advanced against 13 decliners. JAPAULOIL (+10.0%), MAYBAKER (+9.7%) and NEM (+5.3%) were the best performing stocks while STERLING (-6.3%), CHAMS (-5.7%) and FCMB (-3.2%) led laggards. Despite strong investors’ sentiment due to renewed interest in the local bourse, we expect profit taking activities to persists following four consecutive weeks of price appreciation.

Source: Afrinvest