Today, the equities market closed the trading session south on the back of sell-offs in ZENITH (-1.6%), WAPCO (-3.2%) and MTNN (-0.2%). Consequently, the benchmark index lost 2bps to 29,458.21 points. Similarly, YTD return fell to 9.7% while market capitalisation declined ₦2.3bn to ₦15.2tn. Activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 15.7% to 315.7m units while value traded fell 2.0% to ₦3.6bn. AUSTINLAZ (85.0m units), ACCESS (60.5m units) and GUARANTY (26.4m units) led the most traded stocks by volume while GUARANTY (₦849.9m), ACCESS (₦600.9m) and DANGCEM (₦573.2m) led by value.
Sector performance was bullish as 4 of 6 sectors under our coverage gained. The Insurance (+0.9%) and Oil & Gas (+0.4%) indices led gainers, on the back of price appreciation in AIICO (+8.6%), LAWUNION (+10.0%), WAPIC (+2.7%) and OANDO (+2.8%). Similarly, gains were recorded in the Industrial Goods (+0.4%) and Banking (+0.1%) indices, due to buying interest in CUTIX (+5.2%), UBA (+2.9%) and UBN (+2.5%). Conversely, price declines in MTNN (-0.2%), FLOURMILL (-3.6%) and NASCON (-4.5%) drove the AFR-ICT (-0.1%) and Consumer Goods (-0.2%) indices south.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 0.8x from the 0.9x recorded in the previous session as 15 stocks advanced against 18 decliners. LAWUNION (+10.0%), AIICO (+8.6%) and HONEYFLOUR (+8.3%) led the gainers while JBERGER (-6.8%), NASCON (-4.5%) and COURTVILLE (-4.2%) led the losers. We expect bargain hunting to dominate the market in the near term.
Corporate Actions
ACCESS BANK PLC. notifies the general public on share dealings by an insider. The Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Herbert Wigwe, has sold 28.86 million shares worth N297.82 million, which represents 2.33 percent of his stakes in the bank. The transaction, which was done through Trust Capital Limited, was disclosed in a notice filed at the Nigerian Stock Exchange. This means Wigwe had sold 6.81per cent of his stake in the financial institution, as he had sold a 4.48% stake on Friday. The bank disclosed in a notification of insider dealing, which was filed at the NSE on Friday, that its CEO sold 55.6 million shares ordinary shares, which he held indirectly.
INFINITY TRUST MORTGAGE BANK PLC. releases Q4:2019 unaudited financial statement.
Market Statistics for Wednesday, 22nd January 2020
| Market Cap (N’bn) | 15,173.7 |
| Market Cap (US$’bn) | 42.1 |
| NSE All-Share Index | 29,458.21 |
| Daily Performance % | 0.0 |
| WTD Performance % | (0.5) |
| MTD Performance % | 9.7 |
| QTD Performance % | 9.7 |
| YTD Performance % | 9.7 |
| Daily Volume (Million) | 315.7 |
| Daily Value (N’bn) | 3.6 |
| Daily Value (US$’m) | 10.1 |
Source: Afrinvest
