Nigerian Equities market sustain positive performance… ASI up 1.1%

Today, the equities market recorded gains due to buying interest in DANGCEM (+3.7%), ZENITH (+4.0%) and WAPCO (+7.1%) and as a result, the benchmark index appreciated 110bps to 34,225.22 points. Hence, market capitalisation improved by ₦199.5bn to ₦18.4tn while YTD return rose to 31.2%. Activity level varied as volume traded rose 27.0% to 264.2m units while value traded fell 20.4% to ₦2.9bn. The most traded stocks by volume were ZENITH (36.5m units), GUARANTY (33.8m units) and ACCESS (23.4m units) while ZENITH (₦545.1m), AIRTELAF (₦538.6m) and GUARANTY (₦407.6m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was bullish as 4 of 6 indices under our coverage closed in the green. The Consumer Goods index was the lone loser, down 9bps due to sustained sell-offs in INTBREW (-3.1%). Conversely, the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices led the gainers with 3.5% and 2.4% gains respectively as a result of price appreciation in MANSARD (+9.1%), AIICO (+4.4%), DANGCEM (+3.7%) and WAPCO (+7.1%). In the same vein, the Banking and Oil & Gas indices gained 2.0% and 0.4% respectively on the back of price uptick in ZENITH (+4.0%), GUARANTY (+1.7%) and OANDO (+5.1%). Lastly, the AFR-ICT index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) increased to 2.1x from the 1.9x recorded in the previous session as 29 stocks gained against the 14 that declined. LASACO (+10.0%), MANSARD (+9.4%) and FTNCOCOA (+8.3%) led the gainers while REDSTAREX (-9.8%), UNITYBNK (-8.8%) and OMATEK (-8.3%) led  the decliners. We believe current stock prices present attractive investment opportunities.

Market Statistics for Tuesday, 15th December 2020 

Source: Afrinvest