Bulls open Nigeria’s Stock market, ASI up 0.2%

Today, the local bourse commenced the trading week on a positive note as gains in SEPLAT (+10.0%), GTCO (+1.9%), and FBNH (+0.9%) lifted the benchmark index by 0.2% to 52,319.94 points. Likewise, market capitalisation rose ₦56.5bn to ₦28.2tn while YTD return improved to 22.5% (previously: 22.2%). Meanwhile, market activity dampened as volume and value traded declined 38.8% and 16.1% respectively to 116.3m units and ₦3.5bn.

Performance was bearish across our coverage sectors as 4 indices lost, 1 gained while the Industrial Goods index closed flat. The Consumer Goods and Insurance indices lost 0.6% and 0.5% respectively due to price decline in NB (-5.1%), HONYFLOUR (-9.1%), AIICO (-6.3%), and CHIPLC (-4.1%). Also, selloffs in MTNN (-0.1%), CWG (-10.0%), ZENITH (-0.9%) and UBN (-0.9%) dragged the AFR-ICT and Banking indices down by 5bps and 4bpsrespectively. On the other hand, the Oil & Gasindex advanced 4.0% courtesy of buy interest in SEPLAT (+10.0%).

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, improved to -0.09x (previously: – 0.12x) as 16 indices gained, 22 lost while 67 closed flat. In the next trading session, we expect bargain hunting activities to sustain the positive performance.