At the close of trade, the domestic equities market sustained the previous day’s gain, rising 31bps to settle at 40,490.85 points. The positive performance was driven by buying interest in SEPLAT (+10.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+3.6%) and GUARANTY (+1.5%). Consequently, the YTD return improved to 0.8% while market capitalisation advanced by ₦65.7bn to settle at ₦21.2tn. Activity level surged as volume and value traded advanced 755.0% and 243.8% to 2.1bn units and ₦7.5bn respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were UBA (26.5m units), DANGSUGAR (21.5m units) and FIDELITY (15.7m units) while DANGSUGAR (₦397.8m), ZENITH (₦327.3m) and GUARANTY (₦315.1m) topped by value.
Performance across sectors was bullish as 3 of 6 indices under our coverage gained save the AFR-ICT and Industrial Goods indices which closed flat. The Oil & Gas index led gainers, up 5.7% due to buying interest in SEPLAT (+10.0%) and ARDOVA (+9.9%). Similarly, the Consumer Goods and Banking indices rose 0.8% and 0.5% respectively, buoyed by price appreciation in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+3.6%), DANGSUGAR (+3.8%), GUARANTY (+1.5%) and ZENITH (+0.8%). Conversely, losses in MANSARD (-3.2%) and SOVRENINS (-9.1%) dragged the Insurance index marginally lower by 2bps.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.4x from the 0.4x recorded previously as 22 stocks advanced against 16 decliners. LIVESTOCK (+10.0%), SEPLAT (+10.0%) and FTNCOCOA (+10.0%) were the best-performing tickers while SOVRENINS (-9.1%), ETERNA (-8.2%) and DEAPCAP (-8.0%) were the losers. We anticipate the equities market would close on a positive note for the week.
Market Statistics for Thursday, 7th January 2021
| Market Cap (N’bn) | 21,224.1 |
| Market Cap (US$’bn) | 55.0 |
| NSE All-Share Index | 40,490.85 |
| Daily Performance % | 0.3 |
| WTD Performance % | 0.8 |
| MTD Performance % | 0.8 |
| QTD Performance % | 0.8 |
| YTD Performance % | 0.8 |
| Daily Volume (Million) | 2,133.5 |
| Daily Value (N’bn) | 7.5 |
| Daily Value (US$’m) | 19.5 |
