Investors sentiment weakened as buying interest sustains positive stock performance

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, weakened to 1.5x from 2.2x as 21 stocks gained against 14 declining stocks Afrinvest said in a note to stock market operators. According stock market report CHAMPION, AFRIPRUD, and FBNHled the gainers while LEARNAFRCA, ETIand WAPICled the losers. In the final trading session, we expect an extension of today’s positive performance in the absence of a negative shock.

Trading at the stock market showed that the domestic equities extended its previous trading session gains due to buying interest in FBNH, WAPCO, and STANBIC. Accordingly, the benchmark index rose 19 basis points to 41,129.98 points while market capitalisation gained ₦41.1billion to reach ₦21.4 trillion. Meanwhile, YTD return improved to 2.1 per cent. Trading activity strengthened as volume and value traded rose 103.5 per cent and 145.6 per cent respectively to 908.0 million units and ₦11.0 billion. The most traded stocks by volume were FBNH (602.8m units), GTCO (63.7m units), and CHAMPION (37.7m units) while FBNH (₦7.1bn), GTCO (₦1.8bn), and SEPLAT (₦655.1m) led by value.

Performance across the sectors was mixed as 3 indices lost, 2 indices gained while the AFR-ICT index remained unchanged. Leading the laggards, the Insurance index fell 2.0 per cent due to price decline in NEM (-4.5%) and WAPIC (-6.0%). Trailing, the Banking and Oil & Gas indices declined 86 basis points and 5bps respectively as investors sold-off stakes in ETI (-8.2%), ACCESS (-2.0%), and OANDO (-3.1%). Alternatively, the Industrial and Consumer Goods indices sustained previous gains, up 3.1 per cent and 0.9 per cent successively on the back of price appreciation in WAPCO (+2.4%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.1%), and HONYFLOUR (+0.9%).

Market Statistics for Thursday, 14th October 2021