Investor sentiment improves… ASI up 1.4% W-o-W

The local bourse continued to enjoy buying interest this week after a brief break on Monday (ASI declined 9bps) as investors took advantage of cheap assets on the exchange. Bargain hunting in banking stocks – GUARANTY, ZENITH, ACCESS and UBA – drove performance northwards with the market gaining 224bps cumulatively between Tuesday and Friday. Hence on a Week on Week basis, the All Share Index rose 1.4% to 31,426.63 points, YTD loss contracted to 1bp while market capitalization increased by N157.0bn to N11.7tn. Similarly, activity level improved as average volume and value traded rose 41.8% and 28.0% W-o-W to 412.1m units and N3.1bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were DIAMOND (330.2m units), ACCESS (202.7m units) and GUARANTY (173.3m units) while GUARANTY (N5.5bn), ZENITH (N2.3bn) and ACCESS (N1.1bn) were the top traded stocks by value.

Across sector indices we cover, performance was mixed W-o-W, although negatively skewed as 3 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the red. The Industrial Goods index led laggards, down 2.0% dragged by losses in DANGCEM (-0.5%) and  WAPCO (-2.3%). Similarly, price depreciation in SEPLAT (-6.3%), FORTE (-1.7%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.4%) and UNILEVER (-1.2%) weighed on the Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices which declined 1.3% and 0.4% respectively. On the other hand, the Banking and Insurance indices closed in the green, up 7.1% and 2.0% respectively due to buying interest in GUARANTY (+8.0%), ZENITH (+7.0%), MANSARD (+4.8%) and CORNERST (+5.0%).

Investor sentiment measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.8x from 1.5x recorded last Friday consequent on 38 stocks advancing against 21 that declined. The top performing stocks for the week were FIDELITY (+24.4%), CAVERTON (+22.6%) and FCMB (+22.2%) while RESORTS (-23.1%), SOVRENIN (-19.2%) and UBN (-8.9%) led laggards. We believe appetite for value stocks will remain upbeat in the near term. Nonetheless, we expect to see profit taking activities at the start of the coming week.

Market Statistics Friday, 25th January 2019 

Market Cap (N’bn)                                   11,719.1

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                     38.3

NSE All-Share Index                               31,426.63

Daily Performance %                                        1.4

1 Week Performance %                                    1.4

YTD Performance %                                        (0.0)

Daily Volume (Million)                                     412.1

Daily Value (N’bn)                                               3.1

Daily Value (US$’m)                                           10.3