Investors gain ₦374.9bn as interest in three stocks lifted benchmark index

At the trading in Nigerian Stock market buying interest in DANGCEM, MTNN and NESTLE (+6.0%) lifted the benchmark index by 312bps to close at 23,809.31 points. Consequently, investors gained ₦374.9 billion as market capitalisation rose to ₦12.4 trillion while YTD loss eased to -11.3 per cent. Activity level advanced as volume and value traded rose 37.7% and 77.4% to 344.0m units and ₦4.3 billion respectively. The most active stocks by volume were GUARANTY (54.3m units), MBENEFIT (41.8m units) and ZENITH (40.3m units) while GUARANTY (₦1.1bn), MTNN (₦913.5m) and ZENITH (₦591.0m) led the value chart.  

Performance across sectors was bullish as 5 of 6 indices that we cover gained. The Banking and Consumer Goods indices led gainers, up 2.4 per cent apiece following price appreciation in ZENITH, ACCESS, NESTLE and HONEYFLOUR. Similarly, the AFR-ICT and Industrial Goods indices appreciated 2.0 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively on the back of gains in MTNN, DANGCEM and WAPCO. The Oil & Gas index also gained 73bps due to sustained buying interest in  OANDO while losses in LINKASSURE and AIICO dragged the Insurance index 0.3 per cent lower.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) surged to 4.1x from the 0.8x recorded in the previous session as 29 stocks gained relative to 7 losers. The top gainers were DANGCEM, NEIMETH and PRESTIGE while MAYBAKER, NPFMCRFBK and LINKASSURE were top losers. We expect investors to continue to cherry-pick fundamentally sound stocks in the market.

Corporate Actions

Prestige Assurance Plc (Audited FY:2019 Result): Revenue rose 27.9 per cent Y-o-Y to ₦6.1 billion from ₦4.8 billion in FY:2018 while the company recorded profit after tax of ₦431.8 million from ₦423.8 million in FY:2018.

Market Statistics for Tuesday, 5th May 2020