Equities Market closes on a Bearish note… ASI Sheds 9bps

Today, the equities market sustained its bearish momentum as sell-pressures in  STANBIC (-3.0%), GUARANTY (-1.2%) and DANGSUGAR (-5.5%) pulled the benchmark index south by 0.1% to settle at 26,090.88 points. Furthermore, investors lost N11.1bn as market capitalisation fell to N12.6tn and YTD return settled at -17.0%. Activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 71.8% to 324.4m units while value traded fell 31.7% to N1.7bn. LAWUNION (146.3m units), ACCESS (40.6m units) and ZENITH (32.2m units) were the most traded by volume while ZENITH (N586.4m), ACCESS (N402.3m) and FBNH (N127.1m) led by value.

Despite the bearish performance, 3 of 6 sectors under our coverage closed in the green while 2 closed flat. The Insurance index was the lone loser, down 0.7% on the back of sell-offs in WAPIC (-8.3%) and LAWUNION (-9.1%). Conversely, the Oil & Gas index led gainers, up 31bps following an uptick in OANDO (+2.8%). Similarly, the Consumer Goods and Banking indices also gained 13bps and 4bps respectively, owing to buying interest in UNILEVER (+9.7%), CADBURY (+6.8%), ACCESS (+2.1%) and ETI (+5.0%). Lastly, the Industrial Goods and AFR-ICT indices closed the trading session flat.  

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 0.8x from the 1.2x recorded in the previous trading session as 10 stocks advanced against 12 decliners. UPDCREIT (+9.7%), UNILEVER (+9.7%) and STERLING (+7.9%) were the best-performing stocks while LAWUNION (-9.1%), WAPIC (-8.3%) and DANGSUGAR (-5.5%) led laggards. We expect bearish momentum to persist as investors continue to take a risk-off approach towards the equities market.

Market Statistics for Tuesday, 24th December, 2019 

Source: Afrinvest