The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has received final approvals of its demutualisation plan from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) respectively. With these approvals, The Exchange has now completed its demutualisation process.
Under the demutualisation plan, a new non-operating holding company, the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (‘NGX Group’) has been created. The Group will have three operating subsidiaries, namely: Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX Limited), the operating exchange; NGX Regulation Limited (NGX REGCO), the independent regulation company; and NGX Real Estate Limited (NGX RELCO), the real estate company. All the entities have been duly registered at the CAC.
Meanwhile, the equities market posted a positive performance at the close of trade as the benchmark index rose 63bps to 38,931.25 points due to bargain hunting in DANGCEM (+3.6%), NESTLE (+1.9%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.0%). As a result, YTD loss improved to -3.3% and market capitalisation advanced by ₦127.9bn to ₦20.4tn. Trading activity waned as volume and value declined by 34.1% and 31.0% respectively to 323.2m units and ₦4.6bn. The most traded stocks by volume were UBA (74.8m units), FBNH (65.4m units) and GUARANTY (34.3m units) while GUARANTY (₦1.1bn), NESTLE (₦635.6m) and UBA (₦523.4m) led by value.
Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 of the 6 indices under our coverage recorded gains. The Industrial Goods index was the top gainer, up 1.7% due to bargain hunting in DANGCEM (+3.6%). Similarly, the Consumer Goods and Insurance indices rose 0.4% and 0.2% respectively following price appreciation in NESTLE (+1.9%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.0%), MANSARD (+1.0%) and WAPIC (+2.1%). Conversely, the Banking and Oil & Gas indices lost 0.3% and 3bps respectively due to profit-taking in GUARANTY (-1.0%), FBNH (-2.8%), CONOIL (-9.8%) and ETERNA (-9.9%). Lastly, the AFR-ICT index closed flat.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.1x from the 0.6x recorded previously as 23 stocks advanced against 21 decliners. MORISON (+9.7%), CHAMPION (+8.9%) and NEIMETH (+8.9%) were the top gainers while CHIPLC (-10.0%), ETERNA (-9.9%) and CONOIL (-9.8%) were the top losers. Moving forward, we expect the overall bearish sentiment to be sustained in the market. However, there are opportunities for bargain hunting amid cheap attractive stocks.
Market Statistics for Wednesday, 10th March 2021
| Market Cap (N’bn) | 20,369.0 |
| Market Cap (US$’bn) | 52.8 |
| NSE All-Share Index | 38,931.25 |
| Daily Performance % | 0.6 |
| WTD Performance % | (1.0) |
| MTD Performance % | (2.2) |
| QTD Performance % | (3.3) |
| YTD Performance % | (3.3) |
| Daily Volume (Million) | 323.2 |
| Daily Value (N’bn) | 4.6 |
| Daily Value (US$’m) | 11.9 |
