The domestic bourse halted a three consecutive day bearish run yesterday as renewed buy interest in market bellwethers buoyed the NSE All Share Index (ASI) 0.7% to 37,743.22 points while YTD loss moderated to 1.3%. Gains in DANGCEM (+2.2%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.8%) and DANGSUGAR (+3.5%) pushed the benchmark index higher for the first time in H2:2018. Accordingly, investors gained N88.4bn as market capitalisation rose to N13.7tn.
Similarly, activity level increased as volume and value traded surged 30.2% and 146.8% to 497.1m units and N5.9bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were UBA (294.9m), ZENITH (38.3m) and ACCESS (34.4m) while UBA (N3.1bn), ZENITH (N930.7m) and GUARANTY (N546.1m) were the top traded stocks by value.
Mixed Sector Performance
Across sectors, performance was mixed as 3 of 5 indices closed in the green.
The Industrial Goods index emerged top performer, up 1.3% as a result of buy interest in DANGCEM (+2.2%) and CCNN (+4.7%).
Likewise, the Banking and Consumer Goods indices rose 0.3% and 0.2% respectively following gains in UBN (+1.7%), STERLING (+5.7%),NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.8%) and DANGSUGAR (+3.5%). On the flipside, the Insurance and Oil & Gas indices declined 1.3% and 0.9% respectively due to sell-offs in MBENEFIT (-5.1%), AIICO (-1.5) and MOBIL (-7.9%).
Investor Sentiment Strengthens
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.2x from 0.9x recorded in the preceding session as 23 stocks advanced relative to 20 that declined.
The top performing stocks were MULTIVERSE (+10.0%), HMARKINS (+9.7%) and JAPAULOIL (+8.3%) while CAPOIL (-9.1%), NEM (-8.8%) and CHAMPION (-8.0%) were the worst performers.
Following a rebound in market performance today, we expect bargain hunting to further boost the benchmark index tomorrow as investor sentiment stays upbeat.
