In yesterday’s trading session, the three-day bullish run in the domestic equities market was halted as the All Share Index (“ASI”) fell 16bps to settle at 32,121.74 points following profit taking in SEPLAT (-3.6%), ZENITH (-0.8%) and ETI (-2.1%).
As a result, investors wealth decreased by N19.4bn to N12.0tn while YTD return moderated to 2.2%. Also, activity level weakened as volume and value traded declined 48.0% and 19.6% to 208.3m units and N2.8bn respectively.
The most active stocks traded by volume were ZENITH (45.4m units),GUARANTY (23.1m units) and FIDELITY (20.2m units) while ZENITH (N1.1bn), GUARANTY (N872.9m) and DANGCEM (N171.3m) led by value.
Bearish Sector Performance
Sector performance was largely bearish as 2 of 5 stocks under our coverage closed in the green. The Banking and Insurance indices gained a marginal 3bps and 2bps respectively, buoyed by modest price appreciation in GUARANTY (+0.9%) and ACCESS (+1.7%).
On the flip side, the Oil & Gas index extended losses as sell-offs in SEPLAT (-3.6%) dragged the index by 1.7% while the Industrial Goods index trailed, depreciating by 1.3% on the back of declines in CCNN (-5.0%).
Similarly, the Consumer Goods index fell 0.1% based on losses in DANGFLOUR (-0.9%), HONYFLOUR (-3.7%) and CADBURY (-1.9%) which dragged the index.
Investor Sentiment Softens
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) fell to 0.4x from 0.8x recorded yesterday.
The top outperforming stocks were JAIZBANK (+5.0%), ACCESS (+1.7%) and UCAP (+1.5%) while the laggards were led by MCNICHOLS (-10.0%), ETRANZACT (-9.9%) and CCNN (-5.0%).
Despite yesterday’s bearish performance, we expect the benchmark index to post a positive close for the week as investors position in fundamentally sound securities ahead of dividend announcements.
