Nigerian Equities Market posts negative return, ASI declined 0.4%

The local bourse closed in the red as the All-Share Index depreciated 39bps due to losses in DANGCEM (-3.2%), ZENITH (-0.6%) and INTBREW (-9.2%), to close at 24,174.45 points. As a result, market capitalisation declined to ₦12.5tn as investors lost ₦49.6bn while YTD loss worsened to -9.9%. Activity level was mixed as volume traded fell 0.3% to 304.2m units while value traded rose 55.6% to ₦3.3bn. The most active stocks by volume were FBNH (82.2m units), CUSTODIAN (30.3m units) and STERLING (28.0m units) while DANGCEM (₦696.4m), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (₦626.6m) and FBNH (₦407.6m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was bearish as 4 of 6 indices under our coverage lost. The AFR-ICT index was the lone gainer, up 0.5% due to buying interest in MTNN (+0.8%). Conversely, the Industrial Goods and Insurance indices recorded the worst performance, shedding 1.6% and 0.9% respectively owing to sell-pressures in DANGCEM (-3.2%) and CORNERSTONE (-9.1%). Similarly, losses in ZENITH (-3.5%) and INTBREW (-9.2%) saw the Banking and Consumer Goods indices fall by 0.1% apiece. Lastly, the Oil & Gas index closed today’s trading session flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) rose to 1.7x from the 0.9x recorded in the previous session as 15 stocks advanced against the 9 that declined. The top gainers were LINKASSURE (+8.6%), VITAFOAM (+7.9%) and ROYALEX (+7.4%) while ETERNA (-10.0%), PRESTIGE (-9.3%) and INTBREW (-9.2%) were the top decliners. We expect bargain hunting to drive gains in the subsequent trading session.

Market Statistics for Tuesday, 21st July 2020 

Source: Afrinvest