Banking Stocks drag market performance as investors lost N44.9bn

The local bourse sustained previous day’s loss as the benchmark index declined 34bps to close at 24,117.40 points following price depreciation in GUARANTY (-3.2%), ZENITH (-3.7%) and ACCESS (-3.2%). Consequently, investors lost ₦44.9bn as market capitalisation fell to ₦12.6tn while YTD loss worsened to -10.2%. Activity level waned as volume and value traded declined 10.0% and 50.9% to 208.2m units and ₦1.1bn respectively. The most active stocks by volume were STERLING (78.9m units), UBA (15.8m units) and JAPAULOIL (12.8m units) while GUARANTY (₦222.9m), ZENITH (₦167.1m) and STERLING (₦98.6m) led by value.

Performance across sectors under our coverage was bullish as 3 of 6 indices advanced, 1 lost while the Oil & Gas and AFR-ICT indices remained unchanged. The Banking index was the lone laggard, shedding 2.8% due to sell pressures in  ZENITH (-3.7%), GUARANTY (-3.2%) and ACCESS (-3.2%). On the other hand, buying interest in UNILEVER (+9.6%) and BUACEMENT (+0.6%) buoyed gains in the Consumer (+0.4%) and Industrial (+0.3%) Goods indices respectively while the Insurance index rose marginally by 0.1% due to price appreciation in REGALINS (+4.6%) and NEM (+0.5%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) fell to 0.5x from the 0.8x recorded in the previous session as 8 stocks advanced against the 15 decliners. The top gainers were UNILEVER (+9.6%), CHAMS (+4.5%) and REGALINS (+4.5%) while ARBICO (-9.9%), GLAXOSMITH (-9.4%) and ABCTRANS (-9.1%) lost the most. We continue to see sell pressures dominate the market as investor sentiment remains weak. Hence, we expect a mixed performance for the  week.

Market Statistics for Tuesday, 14th July 2020 

Source: Afrinvest