Benchmark Index dragged by profit taking… NSE ASI down 2.8%

The equities market closed negative on the first trading session of the week as the benchmark index dipped 2.8 per cent to close at 35,844.00 points, paring Year-to-date return to +33.4%. In the same vein, investors lost N351.8bn in value as market capitalization fell to N12.4tn. Today’s performance was dragged by profit taking in bellwethers – DANGCEM (-5.0%), GUARANTY (-5.0%), ZENITH (-4.9%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-5.0%). Similarly, activity level largely waned as volume and value traded declined 6.7 per cent and 35.3 per cent to close at 490.2 million and N5.3 billion respectively.

Mixed performance across sectors
Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 of 5 indices closed in the red. The Industrial Goods index fell 4.7 per cent due to losses in DANGCEM (-5.0%) while the Banking index depreciated 3.8 per cent on account of profit taking in GUARANTY (-5.0%) and ZENITH (-5.0%). Similarly, the Consumer Goods index slid 0.4 per cent on the back of losses in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.7%). On the other hand, the Insurance index led gainers, up 1.2 per cent on as a result of price appreciation in CONTINSURE (+4.4%) and NEM (+4.7%) while gains in OANDO (+2.3%) bolstered the Oil & Gas index 0.3 per cent higher.

Investor sentiment wanes
Investor sentiment as mirrored by the market breadth (advancers/decliners’ ratio) waned to 0.8x compared to last week Friday (1.0x) as 22 stocks advanced against 27 stocks that declined. Today’s best performing stocks were DANGSUGAR (+10.2%), NASCON (+10.1%) and CILEASING (+8.7%) while the worst performers were CCNN (-9.7%), DANGCEM (-5.0%) and GUARANTY (-5.0%). Although today’s performance was characterized by profit taking in stocks that appreciated in prior sessions, we expect market performance to be majorly driven by H1:2017 corporate earnings releases this week.

Market Statistics Monday, 31st July 2017
Market Cap (N’bn)                                                        12,353.7
Market Cap (US$’bn)                                                         404
NSE All-Share Index                                                     35,844.00
Daily Performance %                                                             2.8
Week Performance %                                                            3.4
YTD Performance %                                                            33.4
Daily Volume (Million)                                                         490.2
Daily Value (N’bn)                                                                   5.3
Daily Value (US$’m)                                                             17.2