Bulls sustain gains… ASI up 0.4% w/w

This week, the local bourse sustained gains on all trading sessions, save Monday due to bargain hunting activities. Accordingly, the benchmark index rose 0.8% w/w to 41,763.26 points. Similarly, YTD return further improved to 3.7% and market capitalisation rose ₦169.7bn w/w to ₦21.8tn. Trading activity weakened as average volume and value traded fell 31.1% and 27.4% w/w to 510.2m units and ₦5.9bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were FBNH (421.5m units), ETRANZACT (105.2m units), and ACCESS (100.2m units) while FBNH (₦5.1bn), NESTLE (₦1.3bn), and MTNN (₦1.2bn) led trades by value.

Performance across sectors was bullish as 4 of 6 indicators under our coverage closed in the green. Repeating last week’s trend, the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices gained 2.6% and 1.4% w/w respectively due to buying interest in BUACEMENT (+6.7%), WAPCO (+3.7%), SEPLAT (+1.6%), and TOTAL (+6.2%). In the same vein, the Banking and AFR-ICT indices rose 0.7% and 0.3% w/w respectively following price appreciation in STANBIC (+5.1%), FCMB (+1.3%), and AIRTELAF (+1.3%). Conversely, the Insurance and Consumer Goods indices declined 1.3% and 1.1% w/w respectively on the back of sell-offs in MBENEFIT (-6.7%), WAPIC (-4.0%), and CADBURY (-5.9%).
 
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 1.0x from 3.2x recorded in the previous week as 33 stocks gained while 32 lost. The top outperformers for the week were CUTIX (+21.0%), UNILEVER (+9.8%), and CUSTODIAN (+9.6%) while ROYALEX (-17.2%), UNIVINSURE (-9.1%), and ACADEMY (-8.3%) led the laggards. In the coming week, we expect market performance to remain upbeat as investors take position ahead of upcoming Q3:2021 earnings releases.