The Bears maintain dominance at Nigerian Stock market, ASI down 0.2%

Sell pressures in the local bourse continued in the first trading session of the week with sell-offs in GUARANTY (-2.6%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-5.3%) and INTBREW (-3.8%) dragging the benchmark index down 22bps to 38,561.84 points. Consequently, the YTD loss worsened to -4.2% and market capitalisation declined by ₦45.3bn to ₦20.2tn. Trading activity waned as volume and value declined by 37.2% and 33.2% respectively to 184.5m units and ₦2.5bn. The most traded stocks by volume were FBNH (31.1m units), NOTORE (22.0m units) and FIDELITY (15.3m units) while NOTORE (₦1.4bn), FBNH (₦226.0m), and ZENITH (₦163.3m) led by value.

Performance across sectors under our coverage was mixed. The Insurance and Oil & Gas indices gained 2.0% and 0.7% respectively due to buying interest in NEM (+7.9%), WAPIC (+10.0%), SEPLAT (+0.9%) and OANDO (+1.7%). Conversely, the Consumer Goods and Banking indices dipped 1.5% and 1.0% respectively following price declines in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-5.3%), INTBREW (-3.8%), GUARANTY (-2.6%) and ZENITH (-0.7%). Lastly, the Industrial Goods and AFR-ICT indices closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.0x from the 0.7x recorded previously as 17 stocks advanced against 17 decliners. WAPIC (+10.0%), NNFM (+9.7%) and SMURFIT (+8.3%) were the top gainers while REGALINS (-9.1%), LIVESTOCK (-8.5%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-5.3%) were the top losers. We expect to see sustained sell pressures as investors lean towards the fixed income space.

Market Statistics for Monday, 15th March 2021 

Source: Afrinvest