The domestic equities market advanced 0.5% in yesterday’s trading session to settle at 29,347.62 points following gains in bellwether stocks – GUARANTY (+2.1%), FBNH(+6.1%) and UBA (+2.4%).
As a result, market capitalisation rose by N57.9bn to N11.0tn while YTD return moderated to -6.6%. However, activity level weakened as volume and value traded shed 45.5% and 18.2% to 224.0m units and N2.0bn respectively.
ZENITH (45.4m units), LASACO (42.3m units) and ACCESS (21.7m units) were the top trades by volume while ZENITH (N927.7m), GUARANTY (N376.9m) and STANBIC (N135.3m) led the top trades by value.
Mixed Sector Performance
Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 of the 5 indices under our coverage trended northwards while 1 closed flat.
The Insurance index led advancers, up 1.9% following bargain hunting in NEM (+10.0%) and NIGERINS (+10.0%). The Banking and Industrial Goods indices trailed, appreciating by 1.1% and 0.8% respectively on the back of buying interest in GUARANTY (+2.1%), FBNH (+6.1%), UBA (+2.4%) and WAPCO (+3.9%) while the Oil & Gas index closed flat for the second consecutive trading session despite profit taking in ETERNA (-8.1%).
On the flip side, the Consumer Goods index fell 0.1% on account of losses in PZ (-9.7%) and DANGFLOUR (-5.9%).
Investor Sentiment Strengthens
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 2.1x from 1.3x recorded in the previous trading session as 15 stocks advanced against 7 decliners. NEM (+10.0%), NIGERINS (+10.0%) and FIDELITY (+8.7%) were the best performing stocks while IKEJAHOTEL (-9.8%), ABCTRANS (-8.3%) and ETERNA (-8.0%) led decliners.
Although we witnessed bargain hunting by investors during mid-week, we still maintain an overall bearish outlook in the near term.
