The Nigerian equities market reversed the negative performance from the previous session as the All Share Index (ASI) closed 33bps higher to settle at 43,092.63 points while YTD return increased to 12.7%. Accordingly, investors gained N50.2bn as market capitalization rose to N15.4tn. The positive performance today can be attributed to upticks in GUARANTY (+2.9%), UNILEVER (+7.5%) and STANBIC (+5.0%) which offset losses in DANGCEM (-1.1%). However, activity level weakened as volume and value traded fell 1.6% and 37.2% to 266.0m units and N3.2bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were CAPOIL (308.8m), JAPAUL OIL (24.0m) and MULTIVERSE (17.5m) while ZENITH (N506.2m), GUARANTY (N499.2m) and DANGCEM (N485.8m) were the top trades by value.
Mixed Sector Performance
Performance across sectors was mixed as 2 of 5 indices closed in the green while 3 trended southwards. The Consumer Goods index advanced the most, inching 0.9% higher following gains in UNILEVER (+7.5%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.7%) while the Banking index (+0.7%) was buoyed by price appreciation in GUARANTY (+2.9%) and ACCESS (+0.8%). On the flipside, the Insurance index led laggards, down 0.9% as profit taking in MANSARD (-4.4%) and NEM (-3.6%) weighed on performance. Similarly, losses in DANGCEM (-1.1%) pulled the Industrial Goods index 0.5% lower while the Oil & Gas index shed 3bps due to losses in FORTE (-0.2%).
Investor Sentiment Stays Flat
Investor Sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) remained flat at 1.1x consequent on 30 stocks advancing against 28 decliners. The top performing stocks were JAPAUL OIL (+9.9%), WAPIC (+8.6%) and UNILEVER (+7.5%) while the worst performing were CILEASING (-9.3%), REGALINS (-7.5%) and JAIZBANK (-5.0%).
We expect this positive performance to be sustained till the end of the week as investors continue to seek bargain opportunities in the market
