Nigerian Equities Market reverses gains, investors lose N48.1bn

Trading at the Nigerian Equities market saw a dip in prices of shares of three companies, Dangote Cement, Guaranty Trust Bank and Seplat that reversed the gains made the previous day. Following the trend in the share market the bears regain grip on the equities market as the ASI fell 0.4 per cent to 26,357.61 points following price weakness in DANGCEM (-1.5%), GUARANTY (-2.4%) and SEPLAT(-2.7%). Consequently, YTD return worsened to -16.1 per cent while market capitalisation decreased by N48.1 billion to N12.8 trillion. Activity level advanced as volume and value traded rose 61.4 per cent and 55.3 per cent to 610.6 million units and N11.1 billion respectively. The most active stocks by volume were ZENITH (336.6m units), ACCESS (73.8m units) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (63.8m units) while ZENITH (N5.8bn), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N3.0bn) and ACCESS (N714.2m) led by value.  

Performance across sectors was poor as 4 of 6 sectors under our coverage lost while 1 gained and 1 closed flat. The lone gainer, the Banking index, rose 0.1% following gains in ZENITH (+2.3%), ACCESS (+3.1%) and FBNH (+1.8%). Conversely, the Oil & Gas index (-1.4%) led laggards due to price depreciation in SEPLAT (-2.7%) and TOTAL (-10.0%). Similarly, the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices lost 1.0% apiece following losses in CONTINSURE (-2.5%), CHIPLC (-7.1%), DANGCEM (-1.5%) and WAPCO (-1.1%). Finally, the Consumer Goods index (-0.4%) declined due to sell-offs in UNILEVER (-5.6%) and PZ (-9.9%) while the AFR-ICT index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 0.8x from the 1.6x recorded previously as 13 stocks gained against 16 decliners. The top gainers were IKEJAHOTEL (+9.1%), AGLEVENT (+7.1%) and JAIZBANK (+7.1%) while TOTAL (-9.3%), PZ (-9.9%) and CHIPLC (-7.1%) were the top losers. As sentiment still remains weak toward the stock market, we maintain our bearish outlook in the absence of catalysts to spur investors’ appetite for equities.

Market Statistics for Wednesday, 13th November, 2019 

Source: Afrinvest