Nigerian Stock market extends losses… ASI down 8bps 

The equities market started the week on a bearish note as the benchmark index fell 8bps to 40,154.09 points following sell pressures in WAPCO (-8.0%), FIDELITY (-3.2%) and UCAP (-5.5%). Accordingly, the YTD loss worsened to -0.3% while market capitalisation declined ₦17.1bn to settle at ₦21.0tn. Trading activity was mixed as volume dipped 6.0% to 289.3m units while value improved by 23.0% to ₦3.6bn. The most traded stocks by volume were FBNH (57.6m units), UCAP (27.4m units) and GUARANTY (26.8m units) while GUARANTY (₦820.5m), ZENITH (₦540.3m) and MTNN (₦464.7m) led by value.

Across sectors under our coverage, performance  was mixed. The Banking and Oil & Gas indices gained 0.2% and 0.1% respectively due to price upticks in STANBIC (+3.4%), UBA (+1.2%) and OANDO (+1.0%). Conversely, sell-offs in WAPCO (-8.0%) drove the Industrial Goods index lower by 0.6%. The Insurance and Consumer Goods indices also declined 0.1% apiece as AIICO (-2.6%), NEM (-2.4%) and UNILEVER (-2.5%) lost. Lastly, the AFR-ICT closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.8x from the 0.9x recorded previously as 19 stocks advanced against 25 decliners. UPDCREIT (+9.3%), CHIPLC (+9.1%) and ACADEMY (+8.6%) were the top gainers while AFRIPRUD (-9.6%), LASACO (-9.5%) and NIGERINS (-8.7%) were the top losers. We expect corporate earnings release to guide the direction of the market this week.

Market Statistics for Monday, 22nd February 2021