The negative performance of the local bourse lingered yesterday, marking the fourth consecutive decline as the All Share Index (ASI) shed 0.2% to 38,605.07 points while the YTD return reduced to 0.9%. Accordingly, investors lost N16.2bn as market capitalisation declined to N13.9tn. Profit taking in market bellwethers – SEPLAT (-5.0%), GUARANTY (-0.9%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.0%) – was responsible for yesterday’s bearish performance.
Similarly, activity level weakened as volume and value traded fell 31.4% and 37.4% to 267.8m units and N3.8bn respectively.
Yesterday’s top traded stocks by volume were ZENITH(44.8m), FBNH (38.7m) and ACCESS (25.8m) while ZENITH (N1.1bn), GUARANTY(N494.3m) and NESTLE (N414.8m) were the top traded stocks by value.
Mixed Sector Performance
Across sectors, performance was mixed as 2 of 5 indices we track closed in the green. The Insurance and Banking indices trended northwards, up 1.4% and 0.2% respectively as a result of buying interest in NEM (+4.9%), PRESTIGE (+10.0%), WAPIC (+4.3%),ZENITH (+2.0%), UBA (+1.4%) and ETI (+1.0%). On the flipside, the Oil & Gas index was the worst performer, down 2.6% due to losses in SEPLAT (-5.0%). Equally, the Consumer and Industrial Goods indices fell 0.3% and 0.2% respectively on the back of profit taking in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.0%), DANGFLOUR (-1.4%), NASCON (-0.2%) and CCNN(-3.1%).
Investor Sentiment Strengthens
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.2x (23 stocks advanced compared to 20 decliners) from 0.4x in the preceding session. The best performing stocks were PRESTIGE (+10.0%), CILEASING (+9.3%) and ETERNA (+8.9%) while SEPLAT (-5.0%), CUSTODIAN (-4.9%) and LIVESTOCK (-4.6%) were the worst performing stocks. In line with our expectation, profit taking across market bellwethers continued today despite improved investor sentiment.
We expect this bearish trend to be sustained in the next trading session although we do not rule out the possibility of a rebound by week end.
