At the close of trade today, sell pressures in DANGCEM (-3.3%), BUACEMENT (-5.3%) and NESTLE (-6.7%) weighed on the All-Share Index, depreciating 136bps to close at 22,470.79 points. Consequently, market capitalisation shed ₦161.3bn to settle at ₦11.7tn while YTD loss worsened to -16.3%. Activity level rose as volume and value traded advanced 8.2% and 81.3% respectively to 201.5m units and ₦3.4bn. The top traded stocks by volume were ACCESS (46.8m units), FBNH (32.6m units) and ZENITH (19.4m units) while NESTLE (₦1.6bn), DANGCEM (₦297.4m) and ACCESS (₦297.3m) led by value.
Sector performance was bearish as 4 of 6 indices under our coverage declined save the Banking index which emerged as the lone gainer and the AFR-ICT index which closed flat. The Industrial (-3.8%) and Consumer Goods (-3.3%) indices lost the most, owing to sell-offs in BUACEMENT (-5.3%), DANGCEM (-3.3%) and NESTLE (-6.7%) respectively. The Oil & Gas (-0.2%) and Insurance (-0.1%) indices trailed, due to price declines in ARDOVA (-4.5%) and LINKASSURE (-8.8%) respectively. On the flip side, gains in GUARANTY (+1.6%), ZENITH (+1.1%) and ACCESS (+1.6%) buoyed a slight increase in the Banking index (0.7%).
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 1.2x from the 6.3x recorded in the previous session as 17 stocks advanced against 14 decliners. The best performing stocks were JAIZBANK (+10.0%), CADBURY (+9.5%) and WEMA (+9.1%) while ETI (-10.0%), UACN (-10.0%) and LINKASSURE (-8.6%) lost the most. In line with current events shaping economic and business activities, we also foresee the Q1:2020 corporate earnings release to partly influence investor sentiment in the near term.
Corporate Action
Wema Bank Plc (Audited FY:2019 Result): Gross Earnings grew impressively by 32.7% Y-o-Y to ₦94.9bn from ₦71.5bn in FY:2018 while PAT spiked 56.3% Y-o-Y to ₦5.2bn from ₦3.3bn in FY:2018.
Market Statistics for Thursday, 23rd April 2020
| Market Cap (N’bn) | 11,710.7 |
| Market Cap (US$’bn) | 32.5 |
| NSE All-Share Index | 22,470.79 |
| Daily Performance % | (1.4) |
| WTD Performance % | (2.0) |
| MTD Performance % | 5.5 |
| QTD Performance % | 5.5 |
| YTD Performance % | (16.3) |
| Daily Volume (Million) | 201.5 |
| Daily Value (N’bn) | 3.4 |
| Daily Value (US$’m) | 9.3 |
Source: Afrinvest
