The local bourse reversed its negative performance from the previous session as the All Share Index (ASI) rose 27bps to close at 37,990.74 points while YTD gain advanced to 41.4%. Resultantly, investors gained N36.0bn as market capitalization expanded to N13.5tn. Today’s positive performance can be largely attributed to buying interest observed across sectors, although WAPCO (+4.7%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.9%) and NESTLE (+0.7%) were the major drivers. However, activity level was mixed as volume traded declined 22.7% to 322.3m units while value traded rose 71.5% to N3.6bn.
Performance across sectors was bullish as all indices under our coverage trended northwards. The Industrial Index led the gainers chart, rising 1.5% consequent on price appreciation in WAPCO (+4.7%). The Oil & Gas index trailed, up 1.1% on the back of upticks in TOTAL (+5.0%) and MOBIL (+4.9%). Similarly, the Consumer Goods index gained 0.5% on renewed buying interest in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.9%) and NASCON (+2.9%) while GUARANTY (+3.7%) and STERLING (+2.9%) pulled the Banking index 0.1% higher. The Insurance index closed today’s trading session
Investor Sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) significantly strengthened from 0.6x recorded the previous day to 3.1x – 25 stocks advanced while 8 declined. The top performers today were CUTIX (+5.0%), MOBIL (+5.0%) and TOTAL (+4.8%) while LINKASSURE (-4.3%), HONEYFLOUR (-3.2%) and LIVESTOCK (-2.3%) led laggards. Following today’s positive performance and the significant improvement in investor sentiment, we re-iterate our positive short-term outlook for the equity market as we proceed to the final trading session of the year.
