Local Bourse sustains gain as investors reap N141.3bn

The domestic equities market sustained gains as the All Share Index (ASI) advanced 101bps to settle at 27,426.64 points while YTD loss further eased to –12.7%. Accordingly, investors gained N141.3bn in value as market capitalisation rose to N13.4tn. However, activity level waned as volume and value traded fell 45.5% and 41.1% to 115.3m units and N854.3m respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were ACCESS (17.0m units), TRANSCORP (14.7m units) and UBN (10.1m units) while GUARANTY (N198.8m), ACCESS (N119.3m) and ZENITH (N104.5m) led by value.

Across sectors, performance was largely bullish as 5 of 6 indices under our coverage trended northward. The Consumer Goods index led gainers, up 3.8% due to buying interest in NESTLE (+7.1%) and DANGSUGAR (+9.4%) while the Banking index trailed, up 1.7% following price appreciation in GUARANTY (+2.2%) and ZENITH (+2.5%). Similarly, the Industrial Goods and Insurance indices rose 1.1% and 0.6% respectively on the back of gains in WAPCO (+3.1%), CCNN (+2.1%), AIICO (+9.8%) and CORNERST (+7.1%). The Oil & Gas index inched higher by 0.5% as investors took position in FORTE (+9.6%) while the AFR-ICT index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 3.1x from 1.5x in the previous trading session as 22 stocks advanced against 7 stocks that declined. The top performers were AIICO (+9.8%), FORTE (+9.6%) and UAC-PROP (+9.6%) while JAIZBANK (-5.0%), NPFMCRFBK (-4.3%) and UNITY (-4.3%) led losers. In today’s trading session, increased buying interest across board spurred the market in the positive direction. However, we expect profit-taking activities to drag market performance at the close of the week.

Market Statistics Thursday, 12th September 2019 

Afrinvest