Nigerian Stock market starts week bearish, investors lost N7.5bn

The week started off on a bearish note as the All-Share Index declined 6bps to close at 25,027.61 points due to sell-offs in BUACEMENT (-1.4%), ETI (-4.7%) and UBA (-1.5%). Consequently, market capitalisation fell ₦7.5bn to ₦13.1tn while YTD loss settled at 6.8%. Activity level was mixed as volume traded advanced 4.8% to 175.2m units while value traded dipped 28.9% to ₦1.4bn. The top traded stocks by volume were FBNH (22.9m units), UNILEVER (17.2m units) and GUARANTY (14.0m units) while GUARANTY (₦344.3m), UNILEVER (₦206.4m) and MTNN (₦129.1m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was bullish as 3 of 6 indices under our coverage returned positive while AFR-ICT index closed flat. The Insurance and Consumer Goods indices rose 1.0% and 0.3% respectively following price appreciation in CORNERSTONE (+9.1%), SUNUASSURE (+5.0%), UNILEVER (+7.1%) and GUINNESS (+6.4%). Similarly, the Oil & Gas index advanced 0.1% due to buying interest in OANDO (+0.9%). Conversely, the Industrial Goods index led laggards, down 0.4% due to sell pressure in BUACEMENT (-1.4%) while price declines in ETI (-4.7%) and UBA (-1.5%) dragged the Banking index 4bps lower. 

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) waned to 1.6x from the 4.4x recorded previously as 18 stocks gainers against the 11 losers. The top gainers were CORNERSTONE (+9.1%), UNILEVER (+7.1%) and UCAP (+6.9%) while CHAMPION (-9.5%), HONYFLOUR (-8.6%) and UACN (-4.8%) lost the most. We expect mixed performance this week as investors may take profit following last week’s bullish run.

Market Statistics for Monday, 10th August 2020 

Source: Afrinvest