16th March, 2020

Friday's bullish performance could not be sustained as price declines in FBNH (-750bps), WAPCO (-610bps), NB (-18bps) and MTNN (-11bps) among others pushed the index south for the day. The ASI lost 12bps to close at 22,705.19bps even as JBERGER (+965bps), ZENITHBANK (+756bps) and ACCESS (+185bps) recorded price increases. Contrary to the 732mn units and N10.22bn value traded on Friday, total volume and value traded for the day dipped by 24.72% and 43.66% respectively, as trades in the Banking sector accounted for c.80.00% of total turnover. Market breadth however closed positive at 1.29x as 18 stocks closed higher while 14 closed lower.

What will shape the market tomorrow? 

The ASI was negatively affected by loses recorded in the Consumer goods and Industrial goods sectors in spite of the buying interest seen in the Banking and Insurance sectors. With the continuous spread of the Covid-19 across the world as well as the fast declining crude oil prices, we expect the Nigerian equities market to remain pressured in the short term despite the attractiveness of some fundamentally sound stocks.  

Reporting for EasyKobo on Monday , 16 March 2020 in Lagos, Nigeria

Source: Vetiva Capital Management Limited