Equities sustain positive trend… ASI up 2.3%

Today, market activities ended on a bullish note as the local bourse gained 232bps to close at 21,879.95 points as a result of price appreciation in DANGCEM (+3.4%), MTNN (+3.2%) and GUARANTY (+8.5%). Consequently, investors gained ₦258.5bn as market capitalisation advanced to ₦11.4tn while YTD loss moderated to -18.5%. Activity level was mixed as volume advanced 77.2% to 557.8m units while value traded declined 47.9% to ₦2.6bn. The most active stocks by volume were FBNH (51.8m units), UBA (35.6m units) and ZENITH (35.6m units) while ZENITH (₦505.5m), GUARANTY (₦387.8m) and FBNH (₦243.5m) led the value chart.  

Across the 6 sectors under our coverage, performance was bullish as 4 indices recorded gains. The  Banking and Consumer Goods indices recorded the best performance, up 4.5% and 2.2% respectively following bargain hunting in GUARANTY (+8.5%), ZENITH (+3.6%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+9.9%). Similarly, the AFR-ICT and Oil & Gas indices ended on a positive note on the back of gains in MTNN (+3.2%), CONOIL (+9.9%) and OANDO (+10.0%). On the flip side, the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices were the laggards as both indicators declined 26bps and 14bps respectively, on the back of losses in NEM (-3.4%), BUACEMENT ( -1.3%) and WAPCO (-2.0%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 2.4x from the 2.2x recorded in previous session as 29 stocks gained relative to 12 losers. The top gainers were OANDO (+10.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+9.9%) and CONOIL (+9.9%) while PZ (-9.1%), REDSTAREX (-5.9%) and LASACO (-4.4%) led the losers. We expect the decision of OPEC+ to ease pressure in the near term, despite the pandemic.

Market Statistics for Tuesday, 14th April 2020

Source: Afrinvest