Equity Market Extends Gains to 2nd Consecutive Session… ASI up 64bps

Yesterday’s trading session saw the domestic market extend its positive performance up 0.6% to 32,614.06 points due to gains in bellwether stocks – NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+10.0%), ZENITH (+1.8%) and GUARANTY (+0.8%).

Consequently, market capitalisation increased by N77.5bn to settle at N12.2tn while YTD gain stood at 3.8%. Activity level also strengthened as volume and value traded advanced 22.4% and 35.6% to 442.8m units and N5.6bn respectively.

The top traded stocks by volume were STERLING (105.8m units), GUARANTY (37.4m units) and UBA (33.0m units) while GUARANTY (N1.4bn), NESTLE (N1.2bn) and ZENITH (N434.0m) led the top traded by value.

Bullish Sector Performance
Performance across sectors was bullish as 4 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the green. The Consumer Goods and Insurance indices led gainers up 1.4% and 1.2% respectively following buying interests in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+10.0%), DANGFLOUR (+5.3%), PRESTIGE(+8.0%) and LAWUNION (+7.8%).

The Oil & Gas index and Banking indices trailed, up 1.0% and 0.8% respectively on the back of gains in MOBIL (+1.1%), ETERNA (+5.5%), ZENITH (+1.8%) and GUARANTY (+0.8%). On the flip side, sell pressures in DANGCEM (-0.1%) led to a 2bps decline in the Industrial Goods index.

Investors Sentiment Strengthens 
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.6x from 1.1x recorded in the previous trading session as 26 stocks advanced against 16 decliners.

The best performing stocks were NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+10.0%), CAVERTON (+9.3%) and JAIZBANK (+8.9%) while GOLDINSURE (-9.4%), CUSTODIAN (-6.9%) and AFRIPRUD (-4.6%) led laggards. Following two consecutive sessions of positive performance, we do not rule out the possibility of profit taking in subsequent sessions.