Nigerian stock Market remains downbeat as Profit-taking Continues

In the penultimate trading session for the week, the local equities market declined, extending yesterday’s loss as ZENITH (-6.2%), WAPCO (-10.0%) and FBNH (-10.0%) closed in the red. Accordingly, the All Share Index fell 127bps to settle at 34,577.26 points. Hence, market capitalisation declined by ₦232.1bn to ₦18.1tn while YTD return moderated to 28.8%. Activity level strengthened as volume and value traded rose 95.7% and 94.1% to 553.9m units and ₦6.6bn respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (87.0m units), ZENITH (65.0m units) and TRANSCORP (52.5m units) while GUARANTY (₦2.8bn), ZENITH (₦1.5bn) and MTNN (₦405.0m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was bearish as all indices under our coverage closed southward. The Banking and Insurance indices lost, down 4.1% and 3.7% respectively on account of sell-offs in ZENITH (-6.2%), FBNH (-10.0%), MANSARD (-6.1%) and AIICO (-5.4%). Similarly, the Consumer and Industrial Goods indices trailed, shedding 1.1% and 0.7% respectively following losses in DANGSUGAR (-6.9%), GUINNESS (-9.8%), WAPCO (-10.0%) and CUTIX (-6.8%). Additionally, sell pressures in OANDO (-6.4%), ARDOVA (-1.1%) and MTNN (-0.8%) dragged the Oil & Gas and AFR-ICT indices down by 0.7% and 0.4% respectively.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 0.2x from the 0.6x recorded in the previous session as 6 stocks gained against the 40 that declined. OKOMUOIL (+10.0%), MBENEFIT (+9.1%) and FTNCOCOA (+8.1%) led the gainers while WAPCO (-10.0%), FBNH (-10.0%) and UPL (-10.0%) led  the decliners. Moving forward, we expect the market to close the week in the red as investor sentiment remains weak.

Market Statistics for Thursday, 10th December 2020 

Source: Afrinvest