Nigerian Equities market record marginal gain… ASI up 2bps

The domestic bourse posted a slight gain today as the benchmark index appreciated 2bps to settle at 26,665.73 points following price appreciation in STANBIC (+2.5%), UNITY (+4.6%) and FBNH (+1.6%). Investors gained N2.6bn as market capitalisation increased to N12.9tn and YTD return settled at -15.2%. Activity level declined as volume and value traded fell 29.9% and 33.4% to 232.7m units and N3.2bn respectively. In terms of trading activity, the banking stocks maintained dominance: ACCESS (64.2m units), ZENITH  (31.0m units) and GUARANTY (26.6m units) led the volume chart while GUARANTY (N786.0m), ACCESS (N636.0m) and ZENITH (N577.4m) led the value chart.

Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 sectors gained, 1 lost and 2  closed flat. The Insurance and Consumer Goods indices gained 16bps and 11bps respectively as a result of price upticks in WAPIC (+3.0%), CADBURY (+7.6%) and PZ (+4.4%). The Industrial Goods index trailed, up 1bp due to price appreciation in CUTIX (+2.9%). Conversely, the Banking index lost 44bps on the back of losses in ZENITH (-1.1%), UBA (-2.1%) and ACCESS (-1.0%). The AFR-ICT and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 0.9x from the 1.4x recorded yesterday as 17 stocks advanced against 18 that declined. IKEJAHOTEL (+9.8%), CHAMS (+9.1%) and CADBURY (+7.6%) were the best performing stocks while UAC-PROP (-10.0%), UPDCREIT (-9.9%) and CORNERSTONE (-9.8%) led laggards. We expect a mixed performance in the equities market in the near term as investor sentiment remains sour.

Market Statistics for Wednesday, 18th December, 2019 

Source: Afrinvest