Bulls sustain dominance at Nigerian Stock Exchange

At the close of trade, gains in banking stocks -STANBIC (+5.9%), ZENITH (+3.0%) and GUARANTY (+2.4%)- pushed the NSE-ASI index higher by 57bps to close at 42,169.41 points. Consequently, the YTD return improved to 4.7% while market capitalisation advanced ₦124.9bn to settle at ₦22.1tn. Activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 2.2% to 555.3m units while value traded dipped 21.3% to ₦5.8bn. The most traded stocks by volume were TRANSCORP (76.2m units), UBN (75.9m units) and ZENITH (35.2m units) while ZENITH (₦936.8m), WAPCO (₦726.7m) and GUARANTY (₦708.7m) led by value.

Performance across sectors under our coverage was mixed as 3 indicators advanced, 2 lost and the AFR-ICT index closed flat. The Banking index led the gainers, up 2.1% following buying interest in STANBIC (+5.9%), ZENITH (+3.0%) and GUARANTY (+2.4%). Similarly, price uptick in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+2.4%), DANGSUGAR (+1.2%) and WAPCO (+2.7%) pushed the Consumer and Industrial Goods indices higher by 0.9% and 0.2% respectively. Conversely, the Oil & Gas and Insurance indices declined 1.8% and 0.6% respectively due to sell-offs in MOBIL (-8.6%), ARDOVA (-2.8%), NEM (-7.6%) and AFRINSUR (-7.7%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 1.2x from the 1.7x recorded previously as 27 stocks gained against 22 losers. PORTPAINT (+10.0%), JBERGER (+10.0%) and NPFMCRFBK (+9.7%) were the top gainers while ACADEMY (-10.0%), SOVERNINS (-9.7%) and COURTVILLE (-9.1%) were the top losers. We anticipate that the market would end the week on a positive note.

Market Statistics for Thursday, 28th January 2021