Nigerian Equities market resumes Bearish run, investors lost N42.7bn

In today’s trading session, selloffs in GUARANTY (-1.9%), ZENITHBANK (-1.8%) and ACCESS (-3.3%) dragged the benchmark index 13bps lower to 27,646.15 points. As a result, YTD performance weakened to -12.0% while market capitalisation fell by N42.7bn to N13.4tn. Similarly, activity level declined as volume and value traded fell by 35.2% and 68.7% to 245.4m units and N1.7bn respectively. The most active stocks by volume were FBNH (71.5m units), STERLNBANK (61.4m units) and UBA (12.9m units) while FBNH (N390.1m), GUARANTY (N268.9m) and MTNN (N162.3m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was largely bullish as only 1 out of 6 indices under our coverage declined. The Banking index was the lone decliner losing 1.5%, following sell pressures in GUARANTY (-1.9%), ZENITH (-1.8%) and ACCESS (-3.3%). Conversely, price appreciation in NEM (+9.8%), LINKASSURE (+9.8%) and CHIPLC (+10.0%) led to a 2.9% gain in the Insurance index while the Consumer Goods index rose 0.6%, buoyed by improved performance in DANGSUGAR (+7.7%), PZ (+9.3%) and FLOURMILL (+1.5%) respectively. Also, the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices advanced 0.1% apiece, due to buying interest in WAPCO (+0.3%) and OANDO (+0.2%). Finally, the AFRI-ICT index closed flat. 

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 1.4x from 1.9x recorded yesterday as 23 stocks gained relative to 16 losers. The top performing stocks were CHIPLC (+10.0%), UACN (+9.9%) and LINKASSURE (+9.8%) while UPL (-8.7%), NEMETH (-8.3%) and CUTIX (-7.8%) underperformed. Going forward, we maintain our bearish stance for the equities market in the absence of any major catalyst.

Market Statistics Thursday, 19th September 2019