In the previous day’s trading session, bulls outweighed the bears, as the NSE ASI recorded a 14bps gain. This, in turn, improved the losses in the equities market, as YTD loss softened to -14.8%. Also, market capitalization recouped value worth N17.7bn, closing at N12.9tn. Elsewhere, activity levels recorded significant declines, as volume and values traded declined by 32.2% and 53.3%, to 267.3mn and N3.1bn respectively.
On a sectoral basis, the Banking (+1.8%) index rallied the most, with investors diving into stocks like FBNH (+8.2%), UBA (+7.6%), ACCESS (+3.6%) and FIDELITY (+3.6%). The Consumer goods (+1.3%), Insurance (+22bps) and Oil & Gas (+9bps) indices followed suit, owing to appreciation in NB (+6.1%), CORNEST (+9.4%) and CONOIL (+9.5%). On the contrary, the Industrial goods (-45bps) sector fell, as sector heavyweight, DANGCEM (- 62bps) lost value. Additionally, a decline in the exchange’s second most capitalized stock, MTNN (-2.3%) capped the day’s gain.
In terms of investor sentiment, market breadth was positive at 2.4x, as 24 stocks moved up, while 10 stocks receded. Looking ahead, we still expect investors to position in value and dividend paying stocks, in expectation of making solid gains.
United Capital Research
