The local equities market started the week on a negative note, as the NSE All-Share Index lost 0.3% in the previous day, closing at 24,753.92pts. Consequentially, the YTD return weakened to -7.8% and investors lost N38.0bn in value, as market capitalization closed at N12.9bn.
In terms of market activity levels, the total volumes and value traded decreased by 34.4% and 28.6%, to 124.7mn units and N1.3bn respectively.
Analysing the performance by sector, four out of the five sectors under our coverage closed negative. Notably, the Industrial Goods (-1.5%) sector was the largest loser, amid price declines in stocks like BUACEMENT (-2.3%) and CUTIX (-9.1%).
The Insurance (-0.9%) sector followed suit, dragged by losses in AIICO (-3.0%) and LAWUNION (-4.7%). Also, the Banking (-0.6%) sector lost points, due to GUARANTY (-1.7%) and UBA (-0.8%). The Oil and Gas (-0.5%) sector was the last loser, as ARDOVA (-5.1%) and OANDO (-2.0%) declined.
On the other side, the Consumer Goods ( +2.1%) sector was the sole gainer, driven by a 7.7% gain in NESTLE.
Overall investors’ sentiment was downbeat, evident by a market breadth of 0.4x – 11 stocks advanced while 26 stocks declined. In today’s trading session, we believe general sentiments in the local bourse will be mixed, given the tepid expectations of the soon approaching H2-2020 earnings season.
United Capital Research
