Market Statistics: Wednesday, 11th October 2017

 Profit Taking Drags Benchmark Index Lower… NSE ASI down 34bps
Performance of the Nigerian Equities market was dragged by profit taking as the All Share Index (ASI) slid 34bps to 36,652.82 points while the YTD gain moderated to 36.4%. Likewise, market capitalization trimmed N42.6bn to N12.6tn.

Losses in NIGERIANBREWERIES (-2.9%), UBA (-1.7%) and STANBIC (-2.3%) were the major drags to today’s performance. Similarly, activity level worsened as volume and value traded shrank 4.7% and 43.6% to 336.4m units and N1.8bn respectively.

Insurance Index Leads Gainers
Sector performance was mixed as 3 of 5 indices closed higher.  The Insurance index (+2.4%) led gainers on the back of renewed interest in MANSARD (+10.0%) and LINKASSURE (+6.7%) while the Oil & Gas index followed suit, advancing 0.6% on account of price appreciation in SEPLAT (+1.6%).

Similarly, the Industrial Goods index added 0.2% following gains in CCNN (+9.2%). In contrast, price depreciation in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.9%) dragged the Consumer Goods index 1.1% lower while the Banking index lost 0.2% on the back of losses in UBA (-1.7%) and STANBIC (-2.3%).

Market Breadth Unchanged
Investor sentiment stayed positive today as market breadth remained unchanged from 1.1x recorded yesterday, as 19 stocks advanced against 18 decliners.

The best performing stocks were MANSARD (+10.0%), CCNN (+9.2%) and LINKASSURE (+6.7%) while VITAFOAM (-5.0%), LAWUNION (-4.7%) and UPL (-4.7%) were the worst performing stocks.

As indicated by the market breadth, we expect sentiment to stay strong in the interim as investors take position ahead of the release of 9M:2017 corporate earnings which are expected to be largely positive.