Equities Extend Losses to Third Consecutive Session… NSE ASI down 1.5%

At the close of trade today, the equities market extended losses to the third consecutive session as the benchmark index fell 1.5% to close at 35,629.13 points while YTD gain retreated to 32.6%. Consequently, investors lost N185.0bn as market capitalisation settled at N12.3tn.

Performance was dragged by losses in large cap stocks such as DANGCEM(-3.8%), GUARANTY (-0.5%), ACCESS (-3.9%) and DANGSUGAR (-4.9%). However, activity level improved as volume and value traded surged 66.1% and 93.8% to 239.9m units and N2.9bn respectively.

• All Sector Indices Save For Insurance Close in the Red

Sector performance was largely bearish as all indices closed lower save for the Insurance index which 0.3% due to upticks in CONTINSURE (+4.5%) and NEM (+1.0%). The Industrial Goods index led losers, down 1.8% on account price depreciation in DANGCEM(-3.8%) while the Banking index followed, shedding 0.8% as a result of declines in GUARANTY (-0.5%) and ACCESS (-3.9%).

FIDELITY released its H1:2017 report today which showed Gross Earnings and PAT expanded by 22.1% and 65.6% Y-o-Y to N85.8bn and N9.0bn respectively. Similarly, the Oil & Gas index slid 0.5% owing to negative sentiment towards MOBIL (-5.0%). Losses in GUINNESS (-3.6%) dragged the Consumer Goods index 0.1% lower.

• Investor Sentiment Weakens

Investor sentiment remained weak as market breadth (advancers/decliners’ ratio) dropped to 0.2x (from 0.5x recorded yesterday) – 7 stocks advanced against 30 that declined. The best performing stocks today were CUTIX (+10.0%), MAYBAKER (+4.5%) and CONTINSURE (+4.5%) while NAHCO (-5.0%), FIRSTALUM (-5.0%) and MOBIL (-5.0%) were the worst performers.

The continuous decline in market performance as seen in previous sessions presents an opportunity for bargain hunters to take advantage of stocks that had declined. Hence, we anticipate a rebound in the equities market in subsequent trading sessions this week.

Market Statistics: Wednesday, 30th August 2017