Bargain hunting drives stock market performance last week as ASI up 0.6% w/w 

The local bourse closed in the positive region this week, as buying interests in DANGCEM (+6.5%), FIDSON (+18.1%) and JBERGER (+10.0%) buoyed overall performance. Consequently, the NSE All-Share Index appreciated 0.6% w/w to settle at 24,200.60 points despite losing on 4 of 5 trading sessions. As a result, YTD loss eased to -9.0% as market capitalisation rose ₦73.1bn w/w to close at ₦12.7tn. Activity level improved as average volume and value traded rose 19.5% and 83.6% to 242.8m units and ₦2.7bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were FBNH (154.3m units), UBA (99.3m units) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (89.4m units) while NIGERIAN BREWERIES (₦2.5bn), DANGCEM (₦2.4bn) and GUARANTY (₦1.5bn) led by value.

Performance across sectors was bearish as 4 of 6 indices under our coverage trended southward w/w. The Oil & Gas and Insurance indices led laggards, down 4.7% and 0.8% due to losses in SEPLAT (-10.0%) and  CORNERSTONE (-9.1%). Trailing, the Banking and Consumer Goods indices shed 0.6% and 0.4% respectively on account of price declines in STERLING (-8.0%), UNILEVER (-4.7%) and INTBREW (-10.5%). Conversely, the AFR-ICT and Industrial Goods indices emerged the gainers, up 0.9% and 0.6% respectively following price appreciation in MTNN (+1.7%) and DANGCEM (+6.5%). 

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth ratio advanced to 1.1x from the 0.6x recorded last week as 26 stocks advanced against 24 that declined. The top-performing stocks for the week were FIDSON (+18.1%), UNITYBNK (+15.6%) and ROYALEX (+14.8%) while PRESTIGE (-14.8%), INTBREW (-10.5%) and SEPLAT (-10.0%) were the laggards. In the coming week, we expect more corporate earnings releases to dictate the performance of the market.