Profit-taking drags stock market indices lower

At the local bourse today, sell pressure on ZENITH (-1.2%), GTCO (-3.9%), and WAPCO (-0.8%) dragged performance as the NGX All-Share Index fell 22bps to 42,411.12 points. Therefore, YTD return pared to 5.1% from 5.3% while market capitalisation shed ₦48.8bn to ₦22.1tn. Trading activity was mixed as volume rose 17.6% to 270.1m units while value declined 30.1% to ₦2.3bn. ACCESS (55.0m units), UNIVINSURE (53.2m units), and UNITYBNK (25.2m units) led by volume while ACCESS (₦497.7m), GTCO (₦387.4m), and FBNH (₦252.5m) led by value.

Performance was uneven across our coverage sectors as 3 indices lost, 2 gained while the AFR-ICT closed flat. The Insurance and Consumer Goods indices rose 0.4% and 0.1% respectively due to gains in CUSTODIAN (+9.9%), CORNERST (+6.4%), HONYFLOUR (+1.1%), and MAYBAKER (+1.0%). On the other hand, the Banking index dipped 0.9%, weighed on by losses in GTCO (-3.9%) and ZENITH (-1.2%). Similarly, the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices declined 0.1% apiece following sell pressure on WAPCO (-0.8%), CUTIX (-1.5%), and OANDO (-0.4%) respectively.

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio), weakened to 0.7x from 1.4x as 18 stocks declined while 13 stocks advanced. CUSTODIAN (+9.9%), ROYALEX (+8.6%), and MEYER (+8.3%) led gainers while UPDCREIT (-6.7%), JAPAULGOLD (-5.1%), and CAVERTON (-4.6%) led decliners. In the next trading session, we anticipate that bargain buying would prop up prices.

Today, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (MTN Nigeria) announced its successful bid to acquire one of two 100MHZ spectrum licenses in the 3.5GHz spectrum band auctioned by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to enable Fifth Generation (5G) rollout.

Market Statistics for Tuesday, 14th December 2021