The downward trend in the equities market continued following price depreciation in GUARANTY (-1.0%), DANGCEM (-0.3%) and UBN (-3.7%).
Consequently, ASI dipped 56bps to 28,043.32 points while YTD loss worsened to -10.8%. Similarly investors lost N77.0bn, pulling down market capitalisation to N13.67tn. Activity level improved as volume and value traded rose by 12.5% and 116.0% to 243.7m units and N3.9bn respectively.
The top traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (77.5m units), FBNH (29.5m units) and UBA (13.6m units) while the leading stocks by value were GUARANTY (N2.3bn), DANGCEM (N317.5m) and ZENITH (N247.4m).
Bearish Sector Performance
Sector performance remained largely bearish as 5 of 6 indices under our coverage closed negative. The Insurance index topped the decliners, reversing yesterday’s gain with a loss of 1.5% on the back of sell pressures in MANSARD (-8.3%).
The Banking index trailed closely, retreating by 1.4% following price depreciation in GUARANTY (1.0%), UBN (-3.7%) and ACCESS (-3.1%). In like manner, the Consumer and Industrial Goods indices closed in the red, dipping 0.8% and 0.7% respectively following losses in UNILEVER (-3.0%), NESTLE (-0.4%), HONEYFLOU(-7.1%), WAPCO (-2.6%) and DANGCEM (-0.3%).
The bearish performance also extended to the Oil & Gas index, which declined by 0.1% as investors exited position in FORTE (-0.8%) and TOTAL (-0.1%). Conversely, the AFRI-ICT index closed flat.
Investor Sentiment Remains Flat
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) remained flat at 0.3x due to 8 advancers against 26 laggers. AGLEVENT (+10.0%), CHAMS (+8.0%) and MBENEFIT (+5.0%) led the top advancers while JBERGER (-9.8%), NAHCO (-9.6%) and UNITYBNK (-9.2%) led the laggards. We expect the bearish performance to continue until we start seeing H1:2019 earnings results.
