Banking Stocks drag performance… ASI down 0.4%

The domestic equities market opened the week on a negative note due to profit-taking in GUARANTY (-4.3%), UBN (-8.6%) and ZENITH (-2.3%). Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 39bps to close at 23,950.83 points. Investors lost ₦49.3bn as market capitalisation fell to ₦12.5tn while YTD loss worsened to -10.8%. Activity level waned as volume and value traded declined 1.8% and 19.1%  to 204.7m units and ₦1.8bn respectively. The most active stocks by volume were FBNH (44.1m units), GUARANTY (27.7m units) and REGALINS (20.7m units) while GUARANTY (₦585.0bn), FBNH (₦207.6bn) and ZENITH (₦185.3bn) led the value chart.  

Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 of 6 indices under our coverage trended southward save the AFR-ICT index which closed flat. The Banking index led laggards, down 2.8% following profit-taking in GUARANTY (-4.3%), UBN (-8.6%) and ZENITH (-2.3%). Similarly, the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices lost, down 0.2% and 0.1% respectively due to price depreciation in WAPIC (-9.1%) and CAP (-9.8%). Conversely, the Oil & Gas index appreciated 0.9% on the back of gains in OANDO (+5.7%) and ARDOVA (+4.6%) while bargain hunting in UNILEVER (+10.0%) drove the Consumer Goods index 0.3% higher. 

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) rose to 1.2x from the 0.9x recorded in the previous session as 14 stocks gained relative to 12 losers. The top gainers were UNILEVER (+10.0%), MCNICHOLS (+9.5%) and JAIZBANK (+9.1%) while CAP (-9.8%), WAPIC (-9.1%) and UAC-PROP (-8.7%) were top losers. We expect a mixed performance this week.

Corporate Actions

Nestle Nigeria Plc (Unaudited Q1:2020 Result): Revenue fell 0.9% Y-o-Y to ₦70.3bn from ₦71.0bn in Q1:2019 while profit after tax fell 12.9% to ₦11.2bn from ₦12.8bn in Q1:2019.

Market Statistics for Monday, 11th May 2020