Nigerian Stock Market continues on downward trend, ASI Sheds 12bps

The domestic bourse opened the week negative as sell pressures in FBNH (-7.5%), WAPCO (-6.1%) and DANGSUGAR (-3.0%) pulled the All-Share Index down 12bps to 22,705.19 points. Consequently, market capitalisation shed ₦15.1bn to close at ₦11.8tn. Activity level declined as volume and value traded fell 24.7% and 43.7% to 551.5m units and ₦5.8bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (137.2m units), FBNH (135.3m units) and ZENITH (133.2m units) while GUARANTY (₦2.6bn), ZENITH (₦1.7bn) and FBNH (₦518.3m) were the top traded stocks by value.

Sector performance was bearish as 3 of 6 indices under our coverage lost. The Insurance index led the pack with a 1.3% gain consequent on buying interest in AIICO (+8.2%) and NEM (+4.2%). Trailing, the Banking index rose 0.6% following price appreciation in ZENITH (+7.6%) and UBN (+10.0%). Conversely, price decline in WAPCO (-6.1%) pulled the Industrial Goods index lower by 0.5%. Sell-offs in DANGSUGAR (-3.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-0.2%) and MTNN (-0.1%) dragged the Consumer Goods and AFR-ICT indices 0.5% and 0.1% lower respectively. Lastly, the Oil & Gas index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.4x from the 1.1x recorded on the previous trading day as 18 stocks gained as opposed to 13 losers. The best performing stocks for the day were LASACO (+10.0%), COURTVILLE (+10.0%) and UPL (+10.0%) while TRANSCORP (-10.0%), JAIZBANK (-9.3%) and FBNH (-7.5%) lost the most. This week, we expect a mixed performance in the domestic equities market, to be driven by a risk-off sentiment and bargain hunting activities.

Market Statistics for Monday, 16th March 2020 

Afrinvest