Bears open  week… ASI down 26bps


The equities market resumed trading in the red as losses in ZENITH (-2.3%), FBNH (-4.1%) and UNILEVER (-10.0%) drove the All-Share Index 0.3% lower to 29,552.99 points. Consequently, YTD return moderated to 10.1% while market capitalisation fell by ₦39.1bn to ₦15.2tn. On the other hand, activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 140.6% to 444.0m units while value traded declined 9.8% to ₦3.3bn. The top traded stocks by volume were VERITASKAP (225.6m units), ZENITH (45.4m units) and GUARANTY (26.7m units) while the top traded stocks by value were ZENITH (₦988.9m), GUARANTY (₦856.2m) and NESTLE (₦160.1m).

Performance across sectors was mixed albeit positively skewed as 3 of 6 indices under our coverage gained save the Oil & Gas and AFR-ICT indices which remained unchanged. The Insurance index (+0.5%) led the gainers chart, anchored by price appreciation in LINKASSURE (+8.3%) and LASACO (+3.9%). Likewise, the Consumer (+0.2%) and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices trailed, following buying interest in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+3.9%), VITAFOAM (+6.0%) and WAPCO (+0.6%). On the contrary, the Banking index lost as sell-pressures in ZENITH (-2.3%) and ACCESS (-2.4%) dragged the index down by 1.2%.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) improved to 1.1x from the 0.8x recorded in the previous trading session as 14 stocks advanced relative to 13 decliners. The best performers were NAHCO (+9.8%), NPFMCRFBK (+9.7%) and NEIMETH (+8.5%) while UNILEVER (-10.0%), ETERNA (-9.5%) and ROYALEX (-9.1%) led the laggards. We anticipate a positive trading week but we could see pockets of profit-taking activities in some sessions.

Market Statistics for Monday, 27th January 2020 

Source: Afrinvest