In line with expectation, the bearish run of the equities market from the start of the week persisted as the All Share Index (ASI) declined by 49bps to close at 43,326.89 points while YTD return contracted to 13.3%. Consequently, investors lost N75.8bn as market capitalization fell to N15.5tn.
Yesterday’s drag was largely on account of sustained sell-offs across board with NESTLE (-5.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-3.2%) and FBNH (-1.6%) weighing the most on performance. Meanwhile, activity level improved as volume and value traded surged 336.9% and 64.0% to 2.2bn units and N7.4bn respectively.
Mixed Sector Performance
Sector Performance was mixed as 3 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the red while 2 trended northwards. Leading the losers’ chart was the Consumer Goods index which fell 2.0% following sell pressure in NESTLE (-5.0%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-3.2%).
The Insurance index trailed, down 0.6% on the back of price depreciation in WAPIC (-4.4%) and AIICO (-4.8%). Also, the Banking index fell 0.1% as UBN (-2.4%), DIAMOND (-4.8%) and FIDELITY (-3.2%) all closed southwards.
On the flip side, the Industrial Goods index trended 0.3% higher, buoyed by uptick in DANGCEM (+0.4%) while the Oil & Gas index rose 0.6% due to gains in FORTE (+4.9%).
Investor Sentiment Strengthens
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) improved to 0.7x from 0.5x recorded the previous session consequent on 17 stocks advancing against 26 decliners. The top performing stocks were UNITY (+9.4%), FORTE (+4.9%) and ROYALEX (+4.8%) while SKYE (-8.9%), HMARKINS (-5.3%) and NESTLE (-5.0%) were the worst performers.
Whilst the bearish performance was in line with expectation, improving market breadth and turnover suggest some investors are taking advantage on the week-long sell off to buy into stocks with attractive valuation. Hence, we expect the ‘Buy the Dip” sentiment to buoy performance in subsequent sessions.
In the NASD OTC Exchange, total Volume and value traded stood at 801,424 units and N15.2m respectively. The SDAFRILAND, SDCSCSPLC and SDNDEP were the only instruments that traded.
