The domestic equities market maintained its bullish momentum as buying interest in STANBIC (+4.5%), FBNH (+1.0%) and GUARANTY (+0.2%) drove the benchmark index up 15bps to settle at 25,330.10 points. As a result, investors gained ₦20.0bn as market capitalisation advanced to ₦13.2tn while YTD loss moderated to -5.6%. Activity level was mixed as volume traded fell 28.1% to 180.7m units while value traded rose 16.0% to ₦1.4bn. The top traded stocks by volume were FIDELITY (26.6m units), UBA (19.5m units) and ACCESS (19.0m units) while NESTLE (₦198.1m), ZENITH (₦172.8m) and GUARANTY (₦159.5m) led by value.
Performance across sectors was mixed as 2 indices under our coverage lost, 1 gained while 3 closed flat. The Insurance and Banking indices closed negative, down 92bps and 3bps respectively owing to price depreciation in UBA (-1.5%), CORNERSTONE (-9.7%) and CUSTODIAN (-2.0%). On the flip side, the Consumer Goods index was the lone gainer, up 16bps due to buying interest in PZ (+5.0%), CHAMPION (+7.1%) and GUINNESS (+1.3%). Lastly, the Oil & Gas, Industrial Goods and AFR-ICT indices closed flat.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) advanced to 3.0x from the 0.8x recorded previously as 24 stocks gained against the 8 that declined. The top gainers were FTNCOCOA (+10.0%), NNFM (+9.8%) and UPL (+9.6%) while CORNERSTONE (-9.7%), AFRIPRUD (-6.7%) and WAPIC (-2.9%) lost the most. Following a six day consecutive bullish streak, we expect to see some profit-taking in subsequent trading days.
Market Statistics for Wednesday, 26th August 2020
| Market Cap (N’bn) | 13,214.5 |
| Market Cap (US$’bn) | 34.2 |
| NSE All-Share Index | 25,330.10 |
| Daily Performance % | 0.2 |
| WTD Performance % | 0.4 |
| MTD Performance % | 2.6 |
| QTD Performance % | 3.5 |
| YTD Performance % | (5.6) |
| Daily Volume (Million) | 180.7 |
| Daily Value (N’bn) | 1.4 |
| Daily Value (US$’m) | 3.5 |
Source: Afrinvest
