Investors maintain Bearish sentiments… ASI down 1.3%

The equities market opened the week bearish as the All-Share Index lost 127bps due to sell-offs in BUACEMENT (-5.0%), NESTLE (-6.6%) and AIRTELAF (-3.5%) to close at 24,109.65 points. Consequently, market capitalisation declined to ₦12.5tn as investors lost ₦161.7bn while YTD loss worsened to -10.5%. Activity level was positive as volume and value traded increased by 33.5% and 90.1% to 189.7m units and ₦2.8bn respectively. The most active stocks by volume were GUARANTY (60.5m units), ACCESS (25.3m units) and UBA (8.8m units) while GUARANTY (₦1.3bn), NESTLE (₦374.1m) and SEPLAT (₦168.9m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was bearish as 4 of 6 indices that we cover lost. The Consumer and Industrial Goods indices recorded the worst performance, shedding 3.2% and 2.4% respectively owing to sell-pressures in  NESTLE (-6.5%), BUACEMENT (-5.0%) and DANGCEM (-0.4%). Similarly, losses in AIRTELAF (-3.5%) and OANDO (-0.4%) saw the AFR-ICT and  Oil & Gas indices weaken by 1.6% and 4bps respectively. On the flip side, the Banking and Insurance indices posted gains, advancing 1.5% and 1.1% respectively following bargain hunting in ZENITH  (+5.3%), GUARANTY (+1.0%), CORNERSTONE (+10.0%) and AIICO (+4.7%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) rose to 0.8x from the 0.3x recorded in the previous session as 14 stocks advanced against the 17 that declined. The top gainers were NAHCO (+10.0%), CORNERSTONE (+10.0%) and ZENITHBANK (+5.2%) while BETAGLAS (-9.9%), JBERGER (-9.8%) and LIVESTOCK (-9.7%) were the top decliners. We expect bargain hunting to drive gains in the next trading session.

Market Statistics for Monday, 6th July 2020 

Source: Afrinvest