At the close of trade today, the benchmark index lost 4bps to 38,706.13 points following sell-offs in NCR (-9.7%), NEIMETH (-9.1%) and VITAFOAM (-5.2%). Accordingly, the YTD loss worsened to -3.9% and market capitalisation reduced by ₦7.7bn to ₦20.3tn. Trading activity declined as volume and value decreased by 19.7% and 38.4% respectively to 177.4m units and ₦2.7bn. The most traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (34.2m units), ZENITH (28.5m units) and UBA (17.7m units) while GUARANTY (₦957.8m), ZENITH (₦572.1m) and SEPLAT (₦265.6m) led by value.
Across sectors under our coverage, performance was mixed as 3 indicators lost, 1 gained and the Industrial Goods and AFR-ICT indices closed flat. The Oil and Gas index rose 1.7% on the back of gains in OANDO (+9.7%) and SEPLAT (+0.9%). Conversely, the Insurance, Banking and Consumer Goods indices lost by 1.0%, 0.4% and 2bps respectively following sell-offs in MANSARD (-5.1%) and GUARANTY (-1.8%) and VITAFOAM (-5.2%).
Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio), strengthened to 1.1x from the 0.6x recorded previously as 13 stocks advanced against 12 losers. WAPIC (+10.0%), SFSREIT (+9.9%) and OANDO (+9.7%) were the top gainers while NCR (-9.7%), NEIMETH (-9.1%) and VITAFOAM (-5.2%) were the top losers. We anticipate an uptick in subsequent trading sessions as investors sentiment towards the market strengthened.
Market Statistics for Wednesday, 17th March 2021
| Market Cap (N’bn) | 20,251.2 |
| Market Cap (US$’bn) | 52.5 |
| NSE All-Share Index | 38,706.1 |
| Daily Performance % | (0.04) |
| WTD Performance % | 0.1 |
| MTD Performance % | (2.7) |
| QTD Performance % | (3.9) |
| YTD Performance % | (3.9) |
| Daily Volume (Million) | 177.4 |
| Daily Value (N’bn) | 2.7 |
| Daily Value (US$’m) | 6.9 |
