Gains in MTNN, Stanbic, Zenith lift stock market bench mark as ASI up 0.5%

The local bourse extended its positive close as gains in MTNN, STANBIC, and ZENITHBANK lifted the benchmark index by 0.5% to 49,233.02 points. Resultantly, the YTD returns rose to 15.3% (previously: 14.7%) while market capitalisation gained ₦133.4 billion to ₦26.8tn. Activity level improved as volume and value traded grew by 153.1% and 27.1% respectively to 222.7m units and ₦2.1bn.

Performance across sectors within our purview was upbeat as all indices gained. The AFR-ICT and Insurance indices appreciated by 1.2% and 1.1% sequentially, buoyed by buying interests in MTNN (+2.9%), CORNERST (+8.3%), and WAPIC (+5.3%). Similarly, price uptick in STANBIC (+4.6%), ZENITHBANK (+2.2%), and ARDOVA (+9.5%) pushed the Banking and Oil & Gas indices up 0.7% and 0.6% respectively. Also, the Consumer Goods and Industrial Goods indices were up 15bps and 13bps accordingly due to gains in DANGSUGAR (+1.3%), INTBREW (+1.2%), and WAPCO (+2.1%).

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, strengthened to 0.15x from 0.10x as 20 stocks advanced, 8 declined while 79 closed flat. In the final trading session, we expect the market to close in the green driven by upbeat sentiment. Today, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published the November CPI report which showed headline inflation rose 1.4 m/m, translating to 21.5% y/y (Oct: 21.1% y/y) in line with our projection. The upswing in prices was broad-based as core inflation rose to a 72-month high of 18.2% y/y and