Sell off in NBL, GTbank, Zenith drag down market index, investors lost N42bn

Sell off in Nigeria Breweries, Guaranty, Zenith dragged the benchmark index lower by 26bps to 35,056.82 points. Consequently, investors lost ₦42.0bn as market capitalisation fell to ₦18.3tn while YTD return moderated to 30.6%. Activity level waned as volume and value traded rose 19.7% and 61.4% to 369.0m units and ₦5.5bn respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were ACCESS (46.3m units), FBNH (44.4m units) and ZENITH (44.0m units) while GUARANTY (₦1.3bn), ZENITH (₦1.1bn) and DANGSUGAR (₦619.1m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was weak as 4 of the 6 indices under our coverage declined. The Insurance index was the lone gainer, up 0.3% due to price appreciation in AIICO (+9.9%), CORENERSTONE (+7.4%) and CHIPLC (+7.1%). Conversely, the Consumer Goods and Banking indices declined 1.8% and 0.8% respectively, following sell-offs in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-7.1%), GUARANTY (-2.6%) and ZENITH (-1.6%). Likewise, the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices lost 0.7% and 2bps respectively, owing to price declines in OANDO (-5.0%), ARDOVA (-4.4%) and CAP (-7.0%). Lastly, the AFR-ICT index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 0.9x from the 0.8x recorded in the previous session as 19 stocks gained against the 22 that declined. AIICO (+9.9%), REGALINS (+9.1%) and FTNCOCOA (+8.7%) led the gainers while CILEASING (-9.9%), MANSARD (-9.7%) and NNFM (-9.7%) led  the decliners. We expect bargain hunting in the next trading session.

Market Statistics for Wednesday, 2nd December 2020 

Source: Afrinvest