Last week, the performance of the domestic equities market was mixed as the benchmark index closed in the green on 2 of the 5 trading sessions.
Consequently, the All Share Index (ASI) declined by 31bps w/w to settle at 38547.08 points while YTD loss worsened to -4.3%. Market capitalisation fell by ₦62.9bn in value to close at ₦20.1trn. Activity level was mixed as average volume fell by 6.9% to 274.8m units while average value traded rose by 36.3% to ₦2.4bn. The top traded stocks by volume were OANDO (103.7m units), FIDELITYBK (64.6m units), and WEMABANK (59.0m units) while ZENITH (₦792.5bn), MTNN (₦638.8m) and ACCESS (₦549.3m) were the top traded stocks by value.
Performance across sectors under our coverage was mixed as 3 indices advanced while 3 indices lost. Leading the gainers is the Oil & Gas index, up 3.8% w/w due to buying interest in OANDO (+23.2%) and ARDOVA (+2.5%). Similarly, the AFR-ICT and Consumer Goods indices gained 0.9% and 0.1% w/w respectively as a result of price appreciation in AIRTELAF (+2.3%), CHAMPION (+9.8%), and DANGSUGAR (+4.8%). On the flip side, the Industrial Goods index declined the most, down 1.3% w/w on the back of sell-offs in BUACEMENT (-4.2%) and CUTIX (-0.4%). Followed by the Insurance and Banking indices, down by 1.1% and 0.9% w/w respectively, driven by price depreciation in LINKASSURE (-14.3%), REGALINS (-12.5%), GTCO (-3.7%), and UBA (-2.6%).
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 1.1x from 2.8x last week as 35 stocks advanced against 31 that declined. The top performing stocks for the week were OANDO (+23.2%), BOCGAS (+19.5%) and FTNCOCOA (+17.1%) while LINKASSURE (-14.3%), REGALINS (-12.5%) and LEARNAFR (-10.0%) led the top underperforming stocks for the week. In the coming week, we expect bargain hunting activities to dominate on the back of relative price attractiveness of stocks and release of favourable H1:2021 earnings results.
