The local bourse continued its bearish run as the All Share Index (ASI) declined 1.6% to close at 31,721.76 points dragged by sell offs in GUARANTY (-6.9%), NESTLE (-2.0%) and ZENITH (-4.0%).
Consequently, the market capitalisation reduced to N11.8tn as investors lost N194.8bn while YTD gain dipped to 0.9%.
However, activity level was mixed as volume traded decreased slightly by 9.7% to 411.7m units while the total value traded surged 96.6% to N5.3bn. GUARANTY (44.6m units), ACCESS (29.7m units) and UBN (27.6m units) were the top traded stock by volume while the top traded value were GUARANTY (N1.6bn), NESTLE (N946.7m) and DANGCEM (N634.7m).
Industrial Goods Index Emerges Lone Gainer
Performance across sectors was largely bearish as all indices save for the Industrial Goods index closed in the red. The Industrial Goods index inched higher, up 0.9% due to bargain hunting in DANGCEM (+1.5%) following its impressive FY: 2018 results.
The Banking index led laggards, down 4.6% based on sell-offs in GUARANTY (-6.9%) and ZENITH (-4.0%). In the same vein, the Consumer Goods index dipped 2.0% as NESTLE (-2.0%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-4.5%) posted another consecutive day of losses.
Similarly, the Oil & Gas and Insurance indices declined 1.6% and 1.0% respectively due to price depreciation in OANDO (-9.7%), REGALINS (-7.4%) and AIICO (-5.2%).
Investor Sentiment Remains Weak
Investor sentiment as measured by the market breadth (advance/decline ratio) stood at 0.3x as 9 stocks advanced against 30 decliners. LIVESTOCK (+7.9%), UNIONDAC (+7.1%) and UAC-PROP (+4.9%) were the top performers while OANDO (-9.9%), FCMB (-9.8%) and DANGFLOUR (-8.8%) were the worst performers.
In our view, the current bearish sentiment in the market are based on sell-offs triggered by foreign portfolio investors. We however note that these pressures present buying opportunities in fundamentally sound stocks; nonetheless, we expect a bearish close tomorrow as investor sentiment remains weak.
