Bargain hunting spurs gain at Nigerian Stock market as capitalisation rose to N12.6trn

In today’s session, gain resurfaced in the equities market as the benchmark index rose 30bps due to bargain hunting in AIRTELAF (+3.7%), BUACEMENT (+2.5%) and ZENITH (+1.9%) to close at 24,097.48 points. Consequently, market capitalisation advanced ₦37.3bn to settle at ₦12.6tn while YTD loss improved to -10.2%. Activity level fell as volume and value traded decreased by 18.0% and 7.1% to 155.5m units and ₦2.6bn respectively. The most active stocks by volume were GUARANTY (19.7m units), ACCESS (13.0m units) and MTNN (10.2m units) while MTNN (₦1.2bn), GUARANTY (₦413.8m) and ZENITHBA (₦129.8m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 of 6 indices that we cover gained. The AFR-ICT advanced 1.1% to top gainers on the the back of price appreciation in AIRTELAF (+3.7%). Similarly, the Banking and Industrial Good indices advanced 0.9% and 0.1% respectively following bargain hunting in ZENITH (+1.9%), UBA (+2.5%) and BUACEMENT (+2.5%). Conversely, the Insurance index pulled back by 1.9% to top the laggards due to profit taking in CUSTODIAN (-9.1%) and MANSARD (-9.7%). In the same vein, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices lost 0.5% and 2bps respectively due to sell-offs in UNILEVER (-9.8%), NASCON (-5.0%) and MRS (-9.8%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) rose to 0.9x from the 0.8x recorded in the previous session as 17 stocks advanced against the 18 that declined. The top gainers were REDSTAREX (+9.8%), WAPIC (+6.1%) and CILEASING (+5.3%) while OKOMUOIL (-9.9%), MRS (-9.8%) and UNILEVER (-9.8%) were the top decliners. Given the low prices, we expect bargain hunting to continue in the near term.

Market Statistics for Tuesday, 7th July 2020

Source: Afrinvest