Nigerian Stock market extends losses… ASI down 4bps

At the close of trade, the domestic equities market fell marginally by 4bps to close at 35,029.82 points due to sell-offs in FBNH (-0.7%), UBA (-0.6%) and ARDOVA (-8.7%). Consequently, investors lost ₦6.5bn as market capitalisation declined to ₦18.3tn while YTD return moderated to 30.5%. Activity level was mixed as volume traded fell 8.0% to 283.1m units while value traded rose 4.5% to ₦3.4bn. The most traded stocks by volume were FBNH (40.8m units), GUARANTY (32.7m units) and AIICO (30.1m units) while GUARANTY (₦1.1bn), ZENITH (₦698.1m) and DANGCEM (₦308.7m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was weak as 4 of the 6 indices under our coverage declined while the Industrial Goods and AFR-ICT indices closed flat. The Insurance index led laggards, down 1.0% due to sell-offs in CORNERSTONE (-3.3%), MANSARD (-0.9%) and AIICO (-0.9%). Similarly, the Oil & Gas and Banking indices declined 0.4% and 0.1% respectively following price depreciation in ARDOVA (-8.7%), FBNH (-0.7%) and UBA (-0.6%). Likewise, losses in CHAMPION (-8.2%) dragged the Consumer Goods index 3bps lower.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.6x from the 0.8x recorded in the previous session as 13 stocks gained against the 21 that declined. FTNCOCOA (+8.8%), UNIONDAC (+8.0%) and CHAMS (+4.8%) led the gainers while ROYALEX (-8.7%), ARDOVA (-8.7%) and MBENEFIT (-8.3%) led  the decliners. We expect profit-taking in the next trading session as investor sentiment remains weak.

Market Statistics for Wednesday, 9th December 2020 

Source: Afrinvest