Nigerian Stock market extends bullish performance… ASI up 0.8%

The domestic equities market continued its bullish run, gaining 76bps as the All Share Index closed at 35,493.15 points while YTD return improved to 32.2% and market capitalisation increased by ₦140.0bn to ₦18.6tn. Market performance was buoyed by buying interest in bellwethers NESTLE (+7.5%), ZENITH (+2.6%) and GUARANTY (+1.2%). Activity level was mixed as volume traded surged 146.2% to 650.5m units while value traded fell 22.4% to ₦2.3bn. The most traded stocks by volume were JAIZBANK (415.0m units), MANSARD (22.3m units) and ZENITH (19.3m units) while ZENITH (₦472.7m), DANGSUGAR (₦257.6m) and NESTLE (₦231.0m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 of 6 indices under our coverage closed in the green. The Consumer Goods index led gainers, up 3.8% due to buying interest in NESTLE (+7.5%) and FLOURMILL (+7.3%). Trailing, the Banking and Insurance indices rose 1.9% and 1.6% respectively following price appreciation in ZENITH (+2.6%), GUARANTY (+1.2%), WAPIC (+4.8%) and CHIPLC (+7.4%). Conversely, the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices lost, down 0.3% and 0.2% respectively as a result of price depreciation in OANDO (+3.5%) and WAPCO (+2.2%). Lastly, the AFR-ICT index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) decreased to 1.9x from the 2.1x recorded in the previous session as 25 stocks gained against the 13 that declined. MANSARD (+10.0%), MAYBAKER (+9.9%) and NCR (+9.6%) led the gainers while CORNERSTONE (-8.3%), LINKASSURURE (-8.2%) and LASACO (-6.1%) led  the decliners. We expect the equities market to maintain its bullish performance, given that current stock prices present attractive investment opportunities.

Nigerian Stock Market Statistics for Wednesday, 16th December 2020 

Source: Afrinvest