The performance of the equities market improved slightly in yesterday’s trading session, as the NSE-ASI grew by 6bps to close at 23,709.44pts. In turn, the YTD loss improved to -11.7%. Also, investors gained about N7.0bn in value, as market capitalization closed at N12.4tn. In terms of activity, the value traded declined by 8.1% to N1.5bn, while the volumes traded increased by 2.2% to 159.2mn units.
All the sectors under our coverage recorded gains. Notably, the Oil and Gas sector (+2.7%) topped the list, with MOBIL (+9.9%) and TOTAL (+6.75%) gaining. The Insurance sector (+1.9%) followed suit, due to increases in MANSARD (+8.0%) and WAPIC (+7.1%). The Banking sector (0.6%) also moved up, due to STANBIC (+2.6%), GUARANTY (+2.1%) and FBNH (+1.1%). I n the Consumer goods (+0.4%) and Industrial goods sectors (+0.1%), UNILEVER (+10.0%) and CUTIX (+2.3%) drove the gains, respectively. In addition, we saw buying interests in healthcare stocks, such as MAYBAKER (+9.7%) and GLAXOSMITH (+2.7%).
Elsewhere, investors sentiment improved as market breadth was 2.9x vs 0.8x in the previous day. Notably, 20 stocks gained while 7 stocks declined. In today’s session, we expect market sentiment to be mixed, as investors simultaneously take profit and take advantage of opportunities in attractive stocks.
United Capital Research