Equities kick-start week bearish… NSE ASI down 90bps

The Nigerian Equities market started the week on a negative note as the All Share Index (ASI) lost 90bps to close at 36,317.31 points while YTD gain moderated to 35.1%. Accordingly, market capitalization contracted N113.4bn to settle at N12.5tn. Today’s performance was dragged by losses in large cap stocks such as GUARANTY (-3.0%), DANGCEM (-0.5%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.6%) and ZENITH (-1.3%). In the same vein, activity level waned as volume and value traded slid 17.6% and 8.4% to 348.1m units and N3.0bn respectively.

Mixed performance across sectors
Sector performance was mixed but largely bearish as 2 of 5 indices closed higher. The Oil & Gas index led gainers, advancing 0.3% due to renewed interest in TOTAL (+9.1%). Likewise, the Insurance index rose 0.2% on the back of price appreciation in CONTINSURE (+3.9%). On the other hand, the Banking index tumbled 1.6% as investors took profit in GUARANTY (-3.0%) and ZENITH (-1.3%) while the Consumer and Industrial Goods indices closed 1.4% and 0.2% lower owing to losses in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.6%) and DANGCEM (-0.5%) respectively.

Sentiment deteriorates further
Investor sentiment further waned today as market breadth declined to 0.3x (from 0.5x on Friday) after 9 stocks advanced against 30 which declined. The best performing stocks today were TOTAL (+9.1%), AIRSERVICE (+5.0%) and CUTIX (+5.0%) while TRANSEXPR (-5.0), MOBIL (-5.0%) and CONOIL (-4.7%) were the worst performers. Consequent on the fact that several value stocks are currently trading at relatively high prices, we believe that the sell sentiment witnessed in the prior week may continue to drag market performance. Nevertheless, we do not rule out bargain hunting opportunities in subsequent trading sessions ahead.

Market Statistics Monday, 28th August 2017
Market Cap (N’bn)                                    12,517.6
Market Cap (US$’bn)                                      41.0
NSE All-Share Index                               36,317.31
Daily Performance %                                       (0.9)
Week Performance %                                      (0.7)
YTD Performance %                                        35.1
Daily Volume (Million)                                    348.1
Daily Value (N’bn)                                              3.0
Daily Value (US$’m)                                           9.7