In yesterday’s trading session, profit taking in bellwethers – GUARANTY (-2.6%), ACCESS (-6.3%) and SEPLAT (-3.3%) – dragged the benchmark index 15bps lower to 32,413.9 points. As a result, YTD performance fell to 3.1% while market capitalisation declined by N18.0bn to N12.1tn.
Similarly, activity level declined as volume and value traded fell 19.0% and 47.2% to N4.2bn and N470.3m respectively.
The top traded stocks by volume were DIAMOND (131.0m units), ZENITH (44.1m units) and UBA (40.6m units) while ZENITH (N1.1bn), DANGCEM (N0.6bn),GUARANTY (N0.5bn) led by value.
Mixed Sector Performance
Sector performance was mixed today with a bearish bias as only 2 out of 5 indices under our coverage advanced. The Industrial and Consumer Goods indices were the day’s gainers, up 1.6% and 0.9% respectively due to buy interest in DANGCEM (+0.4%), CCNN (+4.5%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.2%), OKOMUOIL (+3.4%) and DANGFLOUR (+6.1%).
On the flip side, the Oil & Gas index bucked gains recorded in previous trading sessions, declining by 2.2% as investors took profit in SEPLAT (-3.3%) and OANDO (-1.7%).
Also, the Banking and Insurance indices trailed, down 1.8% and 0.7%, dragged by losses in GUARANTY (-2.6%), ACCESS (-6.3%) CUSTODIAN (-3.2%) and NEM (-4.4%).
Investor Sentiment Softens
Investors sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) softened to 0.9x from 2.7x recorded in yesterday’s trading session as 19 stocks advanced relative to 22 that declined.
The top performing stocks for the day were BERGER (+10.0%), UNILEVER (+10.0%) and UNITY (+9.5%) while CILEASING (-10.0%), CHAMPION (-9.6%), PZ (-9.4%) were the least performing stocks. We expect to see sustained profit taking in previous advancers in the last two sessions before the elections.
