The stock market sustained previous day’s gain as investors continued positioning in bellwethers. Consequently, the All-Share Index rose 0.6% to 26,415.54 points on the back of gains in ACCESS (+6.5%), FBNH (+9.7%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+4.4%). As such, the YTD loss moderated to -1.6% while investors gained ₦83.6bn as market capitalisation increased to ₦13.8tn. Activity level declined as volume and value traded slipped 20.7% and 44.7% to 307.7 m units and ₦2.8bn respectively. The most actively traded stocks by volume were FBNH (50.2m units), ZENITH (49.4m units) and UBA (32.4m units) while ZENITH (₦966.3m), GUARANTY (₦616.3m) and FBNH (₦279.8m) led by value.
Performance across sectors was bullish as 4 of 6 sectors under our coverage recorded gains. The Insurance and Banking indices topped gainers, up 2.7% and 1.7% respectively, following price appreciation in MANSARD (+9.8%), NEM (+10.0%), ACCESS (+6.5%) and ETI (+9.3%). Also, the Consumer and Industrial Goods indices gained 0.8% and 0.4% respectively, on the back of price appreciation in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+4.4%) and BUACEMENT (+0.7%). Conversely, the Oil & Gas index lost 0.7% due to sell-offs in ARDOVA (-10.0%). Lastly, the AFR-ICT index closed flat.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) rose to 2.2x from the 0.7x recorded in the previous trading session as 22 stocks advanced relative to the 10 that declined. The best performers were ROYALEX (+10.0%), NEM (+10.0%) and MANSARD (+9.8%) while ARDOVA (-10.0%), DEAPCAP (-8.3%) and CHIPLC (-7.4%) led the laggards. We expect market gains in subsequent trading days of the week due to the opportunity for bargain hunting.
Market Statistics for Wednesday, 4th March 2020
| Market Cap (N’bn) | 13,764.8 |
| Market Cap (US$’bn) | 38.2 |
| NSE All-Share Index | 26,415.54 |
| Daily Performance % | 0.6 |
| WTD Performance % | (1.5) |
| MTD Performance % | (1.5) |
| QTD Performance % | (1.6) |
| YTD Performance % | (1.6) |
| Daily Volume (Million) | 307.7 |
| Daily Value (N’bn) | 2.8 |
| Daily Value (US$’m) | 7.8 |
Source: Afrinvest
