Sell-offs in Bellwethers Drag Market Performance… ASI Down 58bps

Today, the bearish momentum was sustained in the domestic equities market as the ASI declined 58bps to 26,223.66 points due to price depreciation in DANGCEM (-1.1%), MTNN (-0.8%) and STANBIC (-3.1%). Consequently, YTD loss worsened to -16.6% while market capitalisation fell N73.8bn to N12.8tn. Activity level waned as volume and value traded declined 23.7% and 21.8% to 232.1m units and N3.1bn respectively. The most active stocks by volume were UBA (59.1m units), ACCESS (45.6m units) and ZENITH (26.5m units) while MTNN (N668.1m), GUARANTY (N515.0m) and ZENITH (N459.4m) led by value.  

Performance was bearish as 5 of 6 sectors under our coverage lost. The Consumer Goods, AFR-ICT and Industrial Goods indices declined 0.5% apiece on the back of sell-offs in INTBREW (-9.7%), MCNICHOLS (-8.7%), MTNN (-0.8%) and DANGCEM (-1.1%). Similarly, the Banking and Insurance indices declined 5bps and 3bps respectively due to price depreciation in UBA (-2.3%), FIDELITY (-6.9%) and WAPIC (-5.9%). Finally, the Oil & Gas index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 0.8x from 2.1x recorded in the previous session as 10 stocks gained against 12 decliners. The top gainers were CORNERSTONE (+8.9%), LAWUNION (+8.7%) and LASACO (+3.8%) while PRESCO (-9.9%), INTBREW (-9.7%) and MCNICHOLS (-8.7%) were the top losers. We maintain our bearish outlook for the week due to weak investor sentiment towards equities.

Market Statistics Wednesday, 6th November, 2019 

Source: Afrinvest