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Ebuka Daniel
The local bourse resumed the week with a loss of 39bps due to sell-offs in GUARANTY (-3.3%), BUACEMENT (-1.1%), and GUINNESS (-8.1%).
Consequently, the All-Share index settled at 38,766.6 points, YTD loss worsened to -3.7% and investors lost ₦78.5bn as market capitalisation decreased to ₦20.3tn. Trading activity declined as volume and value traded plunged 6.2% and 7.4% respectively to 224.6m units and ₦2.1bn. The most traded stocks by volume were UACN (34.0m units), ACCESS (26.3m units), and FBNH (18.9m units) while ZENITH (₦364.3m), GUARANTY (₦338.6m), and UACN (₦337.6m) led by value.
Across sectors, performance was bearish as 5 out of 6 indicators closed negative while the AFR-ICT closed flat. The Banking index led the laggards, down 1.7% due to sell-offs in STERLNBA (-8.7%), GUARANTY (-3.3%) and ZENITH (-0.9%).
On the same note, the Industrial Goods and Insurance indices declined by 0.5% apiece on the back of sell-offs in BUACEMENT (-1.1%), WAPCO (-0.7%), AIICO (-3.2%) and CUSTODIA (-1.4%). Similarly, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices fell by 0.4% and 0.1% respectively as we saw some price depreciation in GUINNESS (-8.1%), INTBREW (-8.7%), and OANDO (-3.1%).
Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio), weakened to 0.7x from the 0.8x recorded previously as 14 stocks gained against 21 decliners. ETERNA (+9.9%), LINKASSURE (+9.7%) and ROYALEX (+9.1%) were the top gainers while MRS (-9.9%), ALEX (-9.9%) and CHIPLC (-9.4%) were the top decliners. We expect the equities market to rebound as the week proceeds.
