Bears hold sway at stock market… ASI dips 0.2%

The bears dominated today’s trading session as sell-offs in GTCO (-1.9%), FCMB (-4.2%), and MTNN (-0.2%) dragged the NGX-ASI lower by 0.2% to 47,340.86 points. Thus, market capitalisation and YTD return fell by ₦47.3bn and 20bps respectively to ₦25.5tn and 10.8%. Similarly, trading activity was depressed as volume and value traded waned by 85.7% and 68.7% respectively to 183.3m units and ₦2.5bn.

Across sectors, performance was bearish as 4 out of 6 indices closed in the red. Leading the laggards, the Insurance and Oil & Gas indices lost 1.9% and 1.6% respectively due to losses in AIICO (-4.4%), CORNERST (-8.8%), and SEPLAT (-3.0%). Trailing, the Banking and AFR-ICT indices shed 0.1% apiece following price decline in UBA (-2.3%), ZENITH (-0.7%), and MTNN (-0.2%). On the flip side, buying interest in UNILEVER (+3.8%), INTBREW (+1.0%), and WAPCO (+0.2%) pulled the Consumer Goods and Industrial Goods indices higher by 0.2% and 13bps respectively.

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, weakened to -0.10x from -0.04x as 15 stocks gained, 22 stocks lost while 72 closed flat. In the subsequent trading session, we expect the bearish sentiment to persist.

Macroeconomic. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published the CPI report for February showing an uptick in the annual headline inflation rate to a 4-month high of 15.70%, from 15.60% previously. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 1.63% from 1.47% in January. The upsurge in the CPI was influenced by the pressure in the Core basket (14.01% y/y vs 13.87% previously) while baseline effect helped the Food basket moderate to 17.11% from 17.13% previously.

Market Cap (₦’bn)                         25,514.14

Market Cap ($’bn)                          61.4

NGX All-Share Index                    47,340.86

Daily Performance %                    -0.2%       

WTD Performance %                    -0.2%         

MTD Performance %                    -0.1%

QTD Performance %                    10.8%

YTD Performance %                    10.8%

Daily Volume                                183.3

Daily Value (₦’bn)                        2.5

Daily Value ($’m)                                    6.0

Sectoral Indices Performance

NGX 30                                                    -0.2%

NGX BANKING INDEX                        -0.1%

NGX INSURANCE INDEX                    -1.9%

NGX CONSUMER GOODS INDEX      0.2%

NGX OIL/GAS                                        -1.6%

NGX LII                                                    -0.1%

NGX INDUSTRIAL GOODS INDEX     0.0%

NGX-AseM                                               0.0%