Airtel gets CBN approval for a full super-agent license

Central Bank of Nigeria has granted Airtel Africa Plc’s subsidiary,  Airtel Mobile Commerce Ltd  a full super-agent license. Airtel said this at the floor of the stock exchange. It said that “this license allows Airtel to create an agency network that can service the customers of licensed Nigerian banks, payment service banks, and licensed mobile money operators in Nigeria. We anticipate that this development will boost Airtels’s top and bottom line performances in the near term”. Meanwhile at today, bargain hunting in SEPLAT (+6.8%), NB (+8.4%), and TRANSCORP (+4.5%) kept the bulls running on the local bourse as the NGX-ASI rose 0.1% to close at 48,568.57 points. 

Accordingly, YTD return advanced to 13.7% (previously 13.6%) while market capitalisation gained ₦13.6bn to ₦26.2tn. Meanwhile, trading activity was mixed as volume traded rose 17.3% to 385.2m units while value traded fell 0.5% to ₦4.0bn. Across sectors within our coverage, performance was bullish as 4 indices gained while 2 lost. The Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices led the gainers, up 3.3% and 1.1% respectively due to buying interest in SEPLAT (+6.8%), ARDOVA (+1.8%), NB (+8.4%), and FLOURMILL (+1.4%). 

Trailing, the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices gained 0.9% and 3bps respectively on the back of bargain hunting in AIICO (+6.1%), PRESTIGE (+4.8%), WAPCO (+0.4%), and MEYER (+9.8%). On the flip side, the Banking and AFR-ICT indices shed 1.4% and 0.2% respectively on account of profit-taking in ZENITH (-2.9%), UBA (-1.2%), and MTNN (-0.5%). Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, weakened to 0.08x from 0.54x recorded previously as 28 stocks gained, 23 lost and 62 were unchanged. In the next trading session, we anticipate a mild bearish tilt to be driven by profit taking activities.

 Trade Summary

Market Cap (₦’bn)                                        26,183.81

Market Cap ($’bn)                                        62.7

NGX All-Share Index                                  48,568.57

Daily Performance %                                   0.1%                               

WTD Performance %                                   0.7%

MTD Performance %                                   3.4%                                  

QTD Performance %                                    3.4% 

YTD Performance %                                    13.7%                                 

Daily Volume                                                385.2

Daily Value (₦’bn)                                        4.0

Daily Value ($’m)                                         9.6                                      

Sectoral Indices Performance

NGX 30                                                         0.2%    

NGX BANKING INDEX                            -1.4%          

NGX INSURANCE INDEX                         0.9%         

NGX CONSUMER GOODS INDEX           1.1%   

NGX OIL/GAS                                              3.3%

NGX LII                                                        -0.1%        

NGX INDUSTRIAL GOODS INDEX          0.0%     

NGX-AseM