The local bourse rebounded at the close of trade yesterday following price appreciation in UNILEVER (+6.8%), DANGCEM (+0.5%) and UBA(+1.3%).
As a result, the All Share Index (“ASI”) rose 12bps to 32,453.7 points, YTD gain improved to 3.4% and market capitalisation increased by N14.0bn to N12.1tn. On the flip side, activity level weakened as volume and value traded declined 10.1% and 12.1% to 422.7m units and N3.7bn respectively.
The most active stocks by volume were DIAMOND (97.6m units), TRANSCORP (41.1m units) and ZENITH (40.3m units) while by value, ZENITH (N997.1m), GUARANTY (N992.6m) and ACCESS (N263.7m) led.
Mixed Sector Performance
Across sectors, performance was mixed, albeit with a bullish bias as 3 of 5 indices under our coverage advanced.
The Insurance index rose 1.2% as NEM (+5.0%) and CUSTODIAN (+1.7%) recorded gains. Also, the Industrial and Consumer Goods indices inched 0.7% and 0.3% respectively, due to buying interest in DANGCEM (+0.5%), WAPCO (+3.1%), UNILEVER (+6.8%) and PZ (+5.2%).
On the other hand, the Oil & Gas and Banking indices declined, down 0.8% and 0.5% respectively on the back of profit taking in OANDO (-5.2%), ETERNA (-3.1%).ZENITH (-0.6%),and ACCESS (-0.8%).
Investors Sentiment Strengthens
Investors sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.7x, an improvement from the 0.7x recorded yesterday as 22 stocks advanced against the 13 stocks that declined. The best performers were LIVESTOCK (+10.0%), ABCTRANS (+10.0%) and UNITY (+9.6%) while UBN (-8.0%), OANDO (-5.2%) and DANGFLOUR (-4.6%) were the worst performing stocks.
Despite yesterday’s positive performance, we maintain a conservative outlook for tomorrow’s trading session. We expect profit taking activities in fundamentally good stocks as the market closes for the week.
