Equity market closed the month of August with a consecutive rise in the last two trading sessions of the month. The Nigerian Stock exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) rose by 0.07%, to close at 25,327.13 on Monday.
Although overall, there were more stocks on the decliners’ table compared to gainers table on Monday, however, the gain in high cap stocks like MOBIL (+10.00%), DANGCEM (0+0.52%), WAPCO (+3.46%), BUACEMENT (+0.25%), and GUARANTY (+0.39%) spurred a N9.263 billion rise in the market capitalization to N13.213 trillion.
Following five consecutive weeks of positive close of the equity market, the month of August ended with 2.57% increase in ASI while the YTD loss moderated to 5.64%. The market capitalization rose by N331.216 billion (+2.57%) in August 2020.
On Monday, STANBIC and other tier one banks – UBA, ZENITH, GUARANTY disclosed that they are waiting for regulatory approval for H1 2020 financial statements.
Activity level
The activity level significantly improved on Monday, due to the high volume of trades in UACN (74.424 million), ZENITH (23.896 million), UBA (22.430 million), FBNH (22.258 million).
Overall, the volume and value of traded shares rose by 91.27% and 125.98% respectively on Monday relative to Friday figures. Also, the number of deals increased by 28.88%.
302.009 units of shares worth N2.628 billion were traded in 3,854 deals on Monday.
UACN, the most traded stock by volume and value, accounted for 24.64% of the total volume and 16.18%% of the total value of shares traded on the Exchange on Monday. Total of 74.424 million units of UACN worth N425.225 million exchanged hands in 60 deals.
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Performance of Indices under our watch
Only two indices under our watch appreciated, while 3 declined on Monday.
The Oil and Gas Index moved for the first time since 21 August 2020, thus breaking from its flat-line. The Index rose by 1.99% to close at 191.08, as MOBIL surged 10.00%.
Industrial Goods Index grew by 0.55% following the gains in WAPCO, DANGCEM, and BUACEMENT.
The Insurance Index declined by 0.61% to close at 131.60 largely due to a 3.72% loss in NEM.
The Banking Index dropped by 0.74% to close at 291.79, wiping all the gains it recorded on Friday, as ZENITH, UBA, ACCESS, FBNH among others recorded losses.
Consumer Goods index declined slightly by 0.01% to close at 426.93, as the 2.47% loss in GUINNESS outweighed the gains recorded by VITAFOAM and HONYFLOUR due to its market capitalization.
Investor sentiment
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (gain/loss ratio) weakened further to 0.65x on Monday compared to Friday figure of 0.92x.
Only 11 stocks advanced on Monday with 17 declining, contrary to 12 stocks which advanced on Friday with 13 declining.
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The top five gainers by percentage are;
- MOBIL rose by 10.00% to close at N192.50
- FTNCOCOA rose by 8.33% to close at N0.26
- ROYALEX rose by 7.69% to close at N0.28
- VITAFOAM rose by 4.39% to close at N5.71
- WAPCO rose by 3.46% to close at N11.95
The top five decliners by percentage are;
- CILEASING lost 10.00% to close at N3.60
- UAC-PROP lost 7.61% to close at N0.85
- REDSTAREX lost 5.19% to close at N3.65
- MBENEFIT lost 4.76% to close at N0.20
- NEM lost 4.55% to close at N2.07
Analyst’s view
We expect the market performance to be driven by a mixture of bargain hunting and profit taking, while the activity level remains subdued.
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
