Losses in Bellwethers Drag Equities Market Performance… NSE ASI down 10bps

The two-day positive run in the local bourse came to a halt as the All Share Index (ASI) shed 10bps to close at 40,813.69 points while YTD return moderated to 6.7 per cent. Resultantly, investors lost N13.6 billion in value as market capitalisation fell to N14.7 trillion. The bearish performance today was largely on the back of losses in market bellwethers – DANGCEM (-0.8%), UNILEVER (-3.5%) and ZENITH (-1.0%). Activity level softened as volume and value traded fell 44.1 per cent and 41.4 per cent to 205.3 million units and N3.1 billion respectively. The top traded stocks by volume in today’s trading session were UBA (30.2m), ZENITH (28.1m) and GUARANTY (21.8m) while GUARANTY (N938.2m), ZENITH (727.9m) and UBA (328.4m) were the top traded stocks by value.

Performance across sectors was broadly bullish despite the overall negative performance as 4 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the green. The Insurance index was the top performer, inching 0.5% as gains in CONTINSURE (+5.0%), WAPIC (+1.9%) and PRESTIGE (+4.3%) buoyed performance. The Oil & Gas index followed closely, gaining 0.5 per cent following upticks in 11PLC (+4.2%). Similarly, price appreciation in WAPCO (+0.8%) pushed the Industrial Goods index 0.1 per cent northwards while the Banking index closed today’s trading session 3bps higher consequent on bargain hunting in ETI (+4.8%), WEMA (+9.1%) and STERLING (+5.1%). On the flipside, the Consumer Goods index was the lone decliner, shedding 3bps due to profit taking in INTBREW (-0.7%) and UNILEVER (-3.5%).

Investor sentiment measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened from 1.4x recorded in the previous session to 0.9x as 20 stocks advanced against 23 stocks that declined. The top performing stocks were OANDO (+10.0%), WEMA (+9.1%) and SKYE (+8.8%) while COURTVILLE (-9.1%), JAPAULOIL (-7.0%) and HMARKINS (-6.1%) were the worst performing stocks. Despite the bearish performance in today’s session, we expect bargain hunting to continue to drive positive market performance in the near term as attractive entry opportunities remain in the market.

Market Statistics Thursday, 12th April 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                                 14,740.7

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                    48.1

NSE All-Share Index                              40,813.69

Daily Performance %                                     (0.1)

Week Performance %                                    (0.2)

YTD Performance %                                        6.7

Daily Volume (Million)                                   205.3

Daily Value (N’bn)                                              3.1

Daily Value (US$’m)                                         10.2