Bears reopen trading at stock market

Today, sell-pressure on REDSTARE (-3.2%), CUTIX (-3.1%), and SCOA (-9.4%) dragged the local bourse to the red zone as the NGX All-Share Index fell 10bps to close at 38,906.42 points. Accordingly, YTD loss worsened to -3.4% while market capitalisation decreased ₦19.5bn to ₦20.3tn. Trading activity improved as volume and value traded rose 17.3% and 20.8% to 181.9m units and ₦2.3bn respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were EKOCORP (40.0m units), UBA (10.8m units), and TRANSCORP (9.7m units) while MTNN (₦752.7m), EKOCORP (₦231.6m), and GTCO (₦201.9m) led by value.

Across sectors within our scope, performance was mixed as 3 indices lost, 2 gained, while the AFR-ICT index closed flat. The Insurance index was the biggest loser, down 0.7% due to price depreciation in LINKASSURE (-6.6%) and WAPIC (-4.0%). In the same vein, the Banking and Consumer Goods indices fell 0.3% and 0.2% respectively on the back of sell-offs in ZENITH (-1.3%), UNITYBNK (-3.6%), UNILEVER (-2.2%), and HONYFLOUR (-2.5%). Meanwhile, the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices  gained 0.1% apiece due to buying interest in WAPCO (+2.2%) and OANDO (+0.4%).

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio), strengthened to 0.9x from 0.6x as 18 stocks advanced while 19 stocks declined. CHIPLC (+9.6%), CHAMS (+9.5%), and COURTVILLE (+6.9%) led the gainers while SCOA (-9.4%), VERITASKAP (-8.7%), and LINKASSURE (-6.6%) led the laggards. We expect to see positive performance in subsequent trading sessions, driven by buying interest as investor sentiment builds up.

Market Statistics for Monday, 20th September 2021