Nigerian Equities Market extends gains… ASI up 0.2%

The domestic equities market extended gains into the third consecutive trading session following price appreciation in STANBIC (+5.0%), GUARANTY (+1.9%) and ACCESS (+0.8%). As a result, the All-Share index rose 16bps to settle at 24,882.04 points. Investors gained ₦20.9bn as market capitalisation increased to ₦13.0tn while YTD loss eased to -7.3%. Activity level surged as volume and value traded advanced 148.2% and 167.1% to 383.3m units and ₦3.9bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were FBNH (66.4m units), ACCESS (59.2m units) and ZENITH (30.8m units) while PRESCO (₦1.3bn), ZENITH (₦521.2m) and ACCESS (₦378.8m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was bullish as 4 of 6 indices under our coverage closed northward. The Banking and Oil & Gas indices rose 0.1% apiece due to price appreciation in STANBIC (+5.0%), GUARANTY (+1.9%), MOBIL (+0.9%) and JAPAULOIL (+4.8%). Similarly, the Consumer and Industrial Goods indices appreciated 1bp apiece owing to bargain hunting in PZ (+1.8%) and CAP (+9.7%). Conversely, the Insurance index was the lone laggard, falling 1bp following a loss in LASACO (-4.0%). Finally, the AFR-ICT closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 1.5x from the 2.3x recorded previously as 18 stocks advanced against the 12 decliners. The top gainers were CAP (+9.7%), UAC-PROP (+9.5%) and GLAXOSMITH (+6.2%) while ETERNA (-9.0%), LIVESTOCK (-4.6%) and MBENEFIT (-4.5%) lost the most. For the rest of the week, we expect market performance to move in tandem with the trend in earnings releases.

Market Statistics for Wednesday, 5th August 2020 

Source: Afrinvest