Local Bourse Posts Bearish Performance… ASI down 0.3%

Sell-offs in MTNN (-2.4%), ACCESS (-1.0%) and UBA (-0.7%) dragged the All-Share Index 30bps lower to close at 26,584.45 points. Investors lost N53.0bn as market capitalisation declined to N12.8tn and YTD return settled at -15.4%. Activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 30.7% to 304.2m units while value traded fell 1.2% to N3.1bn. ACCESS (147.7m units), ZENITH  (27.4m units) and FCMB (23.1m units) led the volume traded chart while ACCESS (N1.4bn), GUARANTY (N639.9m) and ZENITH (N506.3m) led the value traded chart.

Sector Performance was mixed as 3 sectors gained, 2 lost and 1 closed flat. The Banking and Insurance indices gained 0.6% and 0.5% respectively as a result of price upticks in GUARANTY (+1.7%), FIDELITY (+5.8%), WAPIC (+5.9%) and LASACO (+3.9%). The Oil & Gas index trailed, up 0.2% due to price appreciation in OANDO (+1.0%). Conversely, the AFR-ICT and Consumer Goods indices lost 1.4% and 5bps respectively, on the back of losses in MTNN (-2.4%), INTBREW (-1.1%) and HONEYFLOUR (-2.0%). The Industrial Goods index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) increased to 1.3x from the 0.9x recorded previously as 14 stocks advanced against 11 that declined. GLAXOSMITH (+9.5%), AGLEVENT (+8.7%) and WEMABANK (+7.1%) were the best performing stocks while CORNERSTONE (-9.8%), UPDCREIT (-9.6%) and UAC-PROP (-6.7%) led laggards. We expect a bearish outing in the equities market by the close of the week as investors maintain a risk-off approach.

Market Statistics for Thursday, 19th December, 2019 

Source: Afrinvest