At the close of trade, the local bourse closed northward as investors took position in DANGCEM (+0.7%), ETI (+7.7%) and GUARANTY (+0.7%). As a result, the NSE All-Share Index (ASI) rose 28bps to 28,777.96 points. Similarly, investors gained ₦42.3bn as market capitalisation increased to ₦15.0tn and YTD return improved to 7.2%. Activity level strengthened as volume and value traded advanced 20.4% and 25.6% to 340.8m units and ₦5.6bn respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (56.8m units), ZENITH (47.8m units) and WAPIC (40.0m units) while GUARANTY (₦1.7bn), DANGCEM (₦1.0bn) and ZENITH (₦1.0bn) led by value.
Performance across sectors was bullish as 4 of 6 indices under our coverage closed in the green. The Banking index gained the most, up 1.0% due to buying interest in ETI (+7.7%), GUARANTY (+0.7%) and UBA (+2.1%). Similarly, the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices rose 0.4% and 0.1% respectively following price upticks in DANGCEM (+0.7%) and OANDO (+0.9%). Price appreciation in ETRANZAC (+7.7%) drove the AFR-ICT index marginally higher by 3bps. Conversely, the Insurance and Consumer Goods indices declined 1.0% and 0.3% respectively as a result of sell pressures in WAPIC (-7.5%), CHIPLC (-8.8%), NASCON (-8.4%) and INTBREW (-4.6%).
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 1.8x from the 3.3x recorded previously as 27 stocks gained against the 15 that declined. CUSTODIAN (+10.0%), NPFMCRFBK (+9.7%) and ETRANZAC (+7.7%) were top gainers while MORISON (-10.0%), CHIPLC (-8.8%) and NASCON (-8.4%) led the laggards. We expect the performance of the equities market to be dictated by the earnings result.
Corporate Actions
AIRTEL AFRICA Plc. (Unaudited H1:2021 Result): Revenue rose 10.7% y/y to $1.8bn from $1.6bn in H1:2020 while profit after tax declined 36.6% to $145.0m from $228.0m in H1:2020.
STANBIC IBTC Plc. (Unaudited Q3:2020 Result): Gross earnings rose 4.0% y/y to ₦183.3bn from ₦176.2bn in Q3:2019 while profit after tax advanced 19.1% to ₦66.2bn from ₦55.6bn in Q3:2019.
LAFARGE AFRICA Plc. (Unaudited Q3:2020 Result): Revenue rose 10.3% y/y to ₦179.9bn from ₦163.1bn in Q3:2019 while profit after tax advanced 37.1% to ₦28.2bn from ₦20.6bn in Q3:2019.
Market Statistics for Monday, 26th October 2020
| Market Cap (N’bn) | 15,041.8 |
| Market Cap (US$’bn) | 39.0 |
| NSE All-Share Index | 28,777.96 |
| Daily Performance % | 0.3 |
| WTD Performance % | 0.3 |
| MTD Performance % | 7.3 |
| QTD Performance % | 7.3 |
| YTD Performance % | 7.2 |
| Daily Volume (Million) | 340.8 |
| Daily Value (N’bn) | 5.6 |
| Daily Value (US$’m) | 14.4 |
