Nigerian Stock Market investors lost ₦28.8bn as market capitalisation drops to ₦13.1tn

Today, the stock market halted the long run of successive gains as the All-Share Index fell 22bps to close at 25,166.01 points due to profit taking in UBA (-6.3%),  ZENITH (-2.5%) and GUARANTY (-1.8%). Consequently, investors lost ₦28.8bn as market capitalisation settled at ₦13.1tn while YTD loss worsened to -6.2%. Activity level weakened as volume and value traded declined 40.1% and 38.6% to 348.2m units and ₦3.4bn respectively. The most active stocks by volume were FBNH (47.4m units) ACCESS (36.9m units), and ZENITH (27.4m units) while GUARANTY (₦576.2m), ZENITH (₦478.1m) and MTNN (₦474.3m) led by value.  

Performance across all sectors under our coverage was mixed as 3 indicators lost against the 3 that gained. The Banking index (-2.8%) led the losers as investors took profit in UBA (-6.3%), ZENITH (-2.5%) and GUARANTY (-1.8%). Likewise, the Oil & Gas (-0.6%) and Consumer Goods (-0.1%) indices lost due to sell-offs in OANDO (-5.7%) and FLOURMILL (-4.8%). Conversely, the Insurance (+1.2%) index recorded the most gain on the back of buying interest in CORNERSTONE (+7.7%) and MANSARD (+8.2%). Similarly, price appreciation in MTNN (+0.9%) and DANGCEM (+0.9%) saw the AFR-ICT and Industrial Goods indices close higher by 0.5% and 0.2% respectively.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) fell to 1.0x from the 2.8x recorded in the previous session as 18 stocks gained while 18 lost. The top gainers were CUTIX (+9.9%), MAYBAKER (+9.7%) and CHAMPION (+9.6%) while ETI  (-9.9%), IKEJAHOTEL (-8.7%) and UBA (-6.2%) led the losers. We expect bargain hunting to support market performance in the next trading session.

Corporate Action

Cornerstone Insurance Plc – FY:2019 Audited Financial Statements: Gross premium written rose 12.9% y/y to ₦13.1bn while PAT advanced 36.2% y/y to ₦4.1bn. Consequently, EPS strengthened to ₦28.0, from ₦20.0 in 2018.

Market Statistics for Thursday, 28th May 2020