Nigeria daily stock market report: December starts with 0.30% gain, Penny Insurance Stocks endure loses

The month of December opened on a positive note, as the benchmark NSE All-Share Index (NSE ASI) advanced by 105.48 points to close at 35,147.92 points. Investors’ saw their wealth increase by N55.166 billion, with a 0.30% rise in Market Capitalization to settle at N18.364 trillion.

Penny Insurance stocks suffered heavy loses, as sell pressures pushed many of them to the maximum possible lose on a single day’s trading session. All 5 out of the 5 biggest losers by percentage were Insurance stocks.

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In the preceding week, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) had issued operational licenses to 7 Insurance companies (1 Re-insurance, 2 Takaful, 3 life and 1 general insurance company), many of whom are backed by strong banking groups.

Activity Level

The activity level waned as both the volume and value of traded stocks decreased. While the volume of stock traded decreased by 25.83% to 308.180 million units, the value of stocks traded decreased by 30.53% to N3.402 billion.

ACCESS was the most traded stock by volume, with 43.368 million shares exchanging hands. It was followed by FBNH with 31.934 million shares and MBENEFIT with 24.434 million shares in second and third positions respectively.

GUARANTY, SEPLAT, and ACCESS were the top three most traded stocks by value. N859.153 million worth of GUARANTY stocks were traded, N431.863 million worth of SEPLAT stocks were traded while ACCESS has stocks worth N376.476 million exchanging hands.

Performance of Indices

The performance of the indices under our watch was mixed; 2 advanced, 2 declined and 1 closed flat.

1. Banking index advanced by 2.27%, with GUARANTY (+5.42%) and ZENITH (+1.67%) pushing the index forward.
2. Oil & Gas index advanced by 0.19% on the back of marginal gain by SEPLAT (+0.40%)
3. Industrial Goods Index closed flat
4. Consumer Goods Index declined by 0.06%, dragged down by GUINNESS (-2.91%)
5. Insurance Index declined by 1.16%, dragged down by multiple stocks

Investor Sentiment

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 0.8x from the 0.6x recorded in the previous session as 16 stocks gained against the 21 that declined.

Top five gainers by percentage are;

1. CAVERTON gained 9.88% to close at N1.89
2. CUTIX gained 9.80% to close at N1.68
3. AIICO gained 9.78% to close at N1.01
4. CHAMS gained 8.70% to close at N0.25
5. MCNICHOLS gained 8.51% to close at N0.51

Top five loser by percentage are;

1. CORNERST lost 10.00% to close at N0.54
2. CHIPLC lost 9.68% to close at N0.28
3. PRESTIGE lost 9.09% to close N0.50
4. LASACO lost 8.82% to close at N0.31
5. MBENEFIT lost 8.70% to close at N0.21

Corporate actions

• Eterna Plc released its earning forecast for the first quarter of 2021, the company expects to make a Profit After Taxation of N106.355 million.
• Tantalizer Plc released its financial statement for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020. Losses for the period was N245.002 million, with revenue dropping by 50%.
• Royal Exchange Plc and Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc both gave notice of their board meetings.
• Ecobank Transnational Incorporated released an extension of its audited Q3 2020 financial statements.

Outlook

We expect the mild gains to be punctuated with equally mild loses as the week progresses.

By; Nnamdi M.