Nigerian Stock market opens week on Bearish note, ASI trims 0.65%

At the end of trading in the Nigerian equities market, it closed in the red as the ASI shed 65bps to settle at 26,681.31 points due to price depreciation in GUARANTY (-3.0%), DANGCEM (-0.5%) and ETI (-7.1%). As a result, YTD performance worsened to -15.1% while market capitalisation fell by N84.1bn to N12.9tn. Activity level was mixed as volume traded declined 2.2% to 192.7m units while value traded appreciated 0.5% to N3.5bn. The most active stocks by volume were ZENITH (24.2m units), UACN (19.6m units) and DANGCEM (12.8m units) while DANGCEM (N1.8bn), ZENITH (N450.1m) and GUARANTY (N282.7m) led by value.

Sector performance was largely poor as only the Insurance index (+1.3%) closed in the positive territory due to a price appreciation in MANSARD (+9.1%). The AFR-ICT (-4bps) and Banking (-1.9%) indices lost, following sell-offs in CILEASING (-9.2%), GUARANTY (-3.0%) and ETI (-7.1%). Similarly, losses in CADBURY (-8.6%), PZ (-4.8%), CCNN (-2.1%) and WAPCO (-1.8%) dragged the Consumer Goods (-0.1%) and Industrial Goods (-1.1%) indices lower. Finally, the Oil & Gas index declined 3bps as OANDO (-3bps) lost.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 0.2x from 1.4x recorded in the previous session as 5 stocks gained relative to 28 losers. The top performing stocks  were MANSARD (+9.1%), CORNERSTONE (+7.9%) and ETERNA (+7.1%) while BERGER (-10.0%), CILEASING (-9.2%) and NIGERINS (-9.1%) led losers. We maintain our bearish stance for the market, although the current low prices of stocks present opportunities for bargain hunting.

Market Statistics for Monday, 9th December, 2019 

Source: Afrinvest