Yesterday, the local bourse maintained its positive performance as the All Share Index (ASI) rose 1.1% to settle at 31,477.51 points.
This was buoyed by a broad-based rally across sectors, although DANGCEM (+1.0%), NESTLE (+3.4%), and GUARANTY (+1.8%) were the main drivers. As a result, market capitalisation increased by N146.4bn to N13.9tn while the YTD return at 0.1% inched into the positive region for the first time since March. However, activity level was mixed as volume traded surged 90.2% to 559.7m units and value traded dipped by 50.3% to N8.7bn. SOVRENINS (280.8m units), UBA (44.4m units) and MTNN (34.2m units) were the top traded stocks by volume while MTNN(N5.2bn), DANGCEM (N954.4m) and ZENITH (N630.7m) led the value chart.
Bullish Sector Performance
Sectoral performance was largely bullish as 5 out of 6 indices under our coverage closed in the green, with the addition of the ICT sector index created by Afrinvest West Africa Limited.
The “AFR-ICT” index led gainers, up 2.8%, due to gains in MTNN (+2.9%) while the Consumer Goods index trailed, advancing 1.3% as investors took position in NESTLE (+3.4%) and UNILEVER (+3.2%). Similarly, the Industrial Goods index rose 0.8% on the back of gains in DANGCEM (+1.0%) and BETAGLAS (+7.6%). LAWUNION (+10.0%), MOBIL (+2.9%) and CONOIL (+7.0%) marginally drove the Insurance and Oil & Gas indices higher by 0.8% and 2bps respectively.
On the flip side, the Banking index emerged the lone loser, declining 0.2%, on the back of losses in ZENITH (-1.1%), STERLING (-8.3%) and UBN (-1.4%).
Investor Sentiment Strengthens
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 0.6x from 0.4x recorded in the prior trading session as 14 stocks advanced against 24 stocks that declined.
Yesterday’s top gainers were LAWUNION (+10.0%), JAPAULOIL (+9.1%) and NAHCO (+7.9%) while ACADEMY (-10.0%), LIVESTOCK (-10.0%) and UCAP (-8.7%) were the top losers. Following the recent positive run, we do not rule out the possibility of some profit-taking activity in the subsequent session.
