July 16 (Lagos) - The bulls returned from their exile yesterday to post a 0.07% gain in the All Stock Index so the big question is can they push on and gain momentum for the rest of the week.
Though the equities market closed in the green (thanks to the gain in AIRTELAFRI : +344bps), sentiment however remained weak as seen by the negative market breadth as well as unenthusiastic sectoral performances. In the absence of significant positive price movement in large cap stocks todat, analysts at Vetiva Capital Management Ltd in Victoria Island expect the ASI to return to the negative zone, though the possibility of bargain hunting cannot be overruled.
Once again it was an Insurance stock that caught the eye as has been the case recently. This sector is so beaten down that these valuations call for immediate mergers between Companies and further consolidation in the sector.
SUNUASSUR , the erstwhile Equity Assurance Plc emerged as the best performing stock for the day, rising 10.00% to close at its intra-day maximum price of N 0.22. The counter which opened at the lowest possible price for any listed company (N 0.20) traded a total of 210k units at its highest price for the day. With the upward movement recorded today, its YTD performance increased to +10.00%.
JBERGER and
NB topped the laggards table for the day, shedding 988bps and 984bps respectively. The counters were largely affected by the persistent bearish sentiment in the domestic market, as investors again sold down a number of mid/large cap stocks. Following today's movement, their YTD returns worsened to -22.11% and -47.97% respectively.
reporting for easykobo.com on Thursday, July 16 2020 from Lagos, Nigeria