Bears resurface again on domestic Bourse… ASI down 3bps

Today, trading activities on the domestic bourse edge lower by 3bps to close at 39,449.82 points, dragged by sell-offs in DANGSUGAR (-2.8%), GTCO (-0.7%), and ZENITH (-0.4%). Nevertheless, YTD loss remained unchanged at -2.0% while market capitalisation declined by ₦5.7bn to ₦20.6tn. Trading activity was mixed as volume traded rose by 0.3% to 197.4m units while value traded fell by 27.5% to ₦1.1bn. The most traded stocks by volume were SOVRENINS (48.4m units), MBENEFIT (27.1m units), and JAIZBANK (10.9m units) while MTNN (₦155.2m), NESTLE (₦149.7m), and ZENITH (₦141.7m) led by value.

Across sectors under our coverage, performance was bearish as 4 indices lost while the AFR-ICT and Industrial Goods indices closed flat. The Insurance and Banking indices slipped by 0.5% and 0.1% respectively due to price depreciation in MBENEFIT (-8.6%), SOVRENINS (-4.4%), GTCO (-0.7%), and ZENITH (-0.4%). Similarly, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices fell by 0.1% apiece due to sell-offs in DANGSUGAR (-2.8%) and OANDO (-1.9%). 

Investors sentiment, as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio), weakened to 0.8x from 0.9x recorded yesterday as 16 stocks advanced while 19 stocks declined. ETERNA (+10.0%), CAPHOTEL (+10.0%), and MORISON (+9.7%) led the gainers while ACADEMY (-9.8%), PHARMDEKO (-9.5%), and MBENEFIT (-8.6%) led the losers. In the next trading session, we expect to see profit-taking activities dominate the market in the absence of any positive catalyst.

Market Statistics for Wednesday, 25th August 2021