Price depreciation in Banking stocks – FBNH (-2.5%), UBA (-1.9%) and GUARANTY (-0.5%) – pulled the All-Share Index down 8bps to 27,547.56 points. Consequently, YTD return fell to 2.6% while market capitalisation shed ₦12.2bn to ₦14.3tn. Activity level advanced as volume and value traded rose 24.9% and 36.2% to 168.1m units and ₦2.2bn respectively. The most active stocks by volume were ZENITH (49.0m units), GUARANTY (17.1m units) and UCAP (15.6m units) while ZENITH (₦953.2m), GUARANTY (₦494.8m) and ACCESS (₦124.4m) led by value.
Across sectors, performance was mixed as 2 indices lost, 1 gained and 3 closed flat. The Banking and Consumer Goods indices lost, down 49bps and 1bp following price declines in FBNH (-2.5%), UBA (-1.9%), GUARANTY (-0.5%) and VITAFOAM (-3.2%). On the other hand, the Insurance index was the lone gainer, up 22bps on the back of price appreciation in WAPIC (+10.0%) and AIICO (+2.5%). Finally, the Oil & Gas, Industrial Goods and AFR-ICT indices closed flat.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) improved to 0.9x from the 0.6x recorded in the previous trading session as 12 stocks advanced relative to 13 decliners. The best performers were UAC-PROP (+10.0%), WAPIC (+10.0%) and CILEASING (+7.4%) while LAWUNION (-4.8%), JAPAULOIL (-4.8%) and COURTVILLE (-4.5%) led the laggards. We maintain our bearish outlook on the equities market pending the corporate earnings release of tier-1 Banking stocks. However, we note that there are opportunities for bargain hunting.
Today’s Corporate Actions
Highlights of Some Corporate Earnings Disclosures Announced Today:
United Capital Plc (Unaudited FY:2019): Revenue fell 7.2% Y-o-Y to ₦8.59bn; However, the company’s profit after tax grew 14.6% to ₦4.97bn from ₦4.33bn in FY:2018.
Market Statistics for Tuesday, 18th February 2020
| Market Cap (N’bn) | 14,347.4 |
| Market Cap (US$’bn) | 39.9 |
| NSE All-Share Index | 27,547.56 |
| Daily Performance % | (0.1) |
| WTD Performance % | (0.8) |
| MTD Performance % | (4.5) |
| QTD Performance % | 2.6 |
| YTD Performance % | 2.6 |
| Daily Volume (Million) | 168.1 |
| Daily Value (N’bn) | 2.2 |
| Daily Value (US$’m) | 6.0 |
Source: Afrinvest
