Bullish streak continues at Nigerian Stock market, ASI up 0.8%

The positive momentum continued in the local bourse as the benchmark index gained 83bps to close at 41,930.73 points. This was on the back of sustained gains in AIRTELAF (+1.1%), MTNN (+2.4%) and WAPCO (+7.3%). Accordingly, the YTD return increased to 4.1% while market capitalisation advanced ₦180.9bn to settle at ₦21.9tn. Activity level advanced as volume and value traded rose 16.2% and 31.6% to 543.6m units and ₦7.3bn respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were TRANSCORP (57.2m units), ZENITH (47.2m units) and FBNH (38.1m units) while AIRTELAF (₦1.8bn), ZENITH (₦1.2bn) and GUARANTY (₦901.0m) led by value.

Performance across sectors under our coverage was positive as only the Oil  & Gas index lost 0.1%, following sell-offs in ARDOVA (-2.4%). The AFR-ICT index led the gainers, up 1.7% due to strong demand for AIRTELAF (+1.1%) and MTNN (+2.4%). Similarly, price uptick in AIICO (+6.3%) and WAPCO (+7.3%) drove the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices higher by 1.5% and 0.5% respectively. Finally, the Banking and Consumer Goods indices rose 0.3% and 0.2% respectively as a result of buying interest in FBNH (+2.7%), UBA (+2.3%), DANGSUGAR (+2.5%) and CHAMPION (+9.8%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) waned to 1.7x from 1.8x recorded previously as 34 stocks advanced against 20 decliners. CHIPLC (+10.0%), GUINEAINS (+10.0%) and FIDSON (+9.9%) were the top advancers while CORNERSTONE (-9.7%), CAVERTON (-9.4%) and UNIVINSURE (-8.7%) were the top losers. We expect the bullish streak to continue in subsequent trading sessions.

Market Statistics for Wednesday, 27th January 2021