Nigerian Equities Market declines 2.2%

Equities began the week in the negative region as the All-Share Index declined 2.2% to 21,700.98 points due to price depreciation in the banking tickers – GUARANTY (-10.0%), ZENITH (-9.7%) and STANBIC (-10.0%). Consequently, YTD return worsened to -19.2% while market capitalisation declined ₦259.2bn to ₦11.3tn. Activity level advanced as volume and value traded rose 22.4% and 12.9% to 464.4m units and ₦3.9bn respectively. The most active stocks by volume were ZENITH (120.5m units), GUARANTY (63.3m units) and FBNH (46.7m units) while ZENITH (₦1.3bn), GUARANTY (₦1.1bn) and MTNN (₦242.0m) led by value.  

Sector performance was bearish as all indices under our coverage lost save the AFR-ICT index that closed flat. The Banking index led laggards, down 9.0% due to price declines in GUARANTY (-10.0%), ZENITH (-9.7%) and STANBIC (-10.0%). Trailing, the  Consumer Goods and Insurance indices depreciated 3.1% and 1.5% following losses in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-10.0%), DANGSUGAR (-10.0%), AIICO (-9.0%) and LAWUNION (-8.0%). Lastly, the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices also declined 0.8% apiece due to price depreciation in OANDO (-9.1%) and WAPCO (-9.9%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.4x from the 1.4x recorded in the previous trading session as 9 stocks advanced relative to 25 decliners. The best performers were NEIMETH (+10.0%), MAYBAKER (+8.9%) and CUSTODIAN  (+8.7%) while NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-10.0%), UBA (-10.0%) and DANGSUGAR (-9.8%) led the laggards. We expect the bearish trend to persist as the pandemic continues. We, however, note that current prices present opportunities for bargain hunting.

Market Statistics for Monday, 23rd March 2020