Buying interest in Bellwethers buoy market performance… NSE ASI up 6bps

The local bourse opened the trading week on a positive note as the All Share Index (ASI) inched 6bps higher to 41,268.56 points while YTD return remained flat at 7.9 per cent. As a result, investors gained N8.4 billion in value as market capitalisation rose to N14.9 trillion. Gains in GUARANTY (+1.5%), DANGCEM (+0.4%), and FBNH (+0.4%) were the main drivers of today’s performance. Similarly, activity level trended higher as volume and value traded improved 41.1 per cent and 77.4 per cent to 450.5 million units and N5.0 billion respectively. Top traded stocks by volume were MBENEFITS (131.0m), UBA (67.8m) and FBNH (53.6m) while the top traded stocks by value were UBA (N781.1m), GUARANTY (N681.0m) and FBNH (N670.3m).

Sector performance was relatively bearish as 3 of the 5 indices under our coverage closed in the red. The Industrial Goods index recorded the highest gains, up 0.6 per cent from price appreciation in DANGCEM (+0.4%) and CCNN (+4.9%). The Banking index trailed rising 0.4 per cent following buying interests in GUARANTY (+1.5%) and FBNH (+0.4%). On the flipside, the Consumers Goods index shed 0.8 per cent as losses in NESTLE (-1.0%), DANGSUGAR (-4.2%) and DANGFLOUR (-2.0%) pulled the index lower. The Insurance and Oil & Gas indices fell 0.2% and 0.1% respectively as investors exited positions in WAPIC (-3.5%), NEM (-1.8%), ETERNA (-5.0%) and TOTAL (-0.2%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 1.1x from 1.8x as 19 stocks advanced against 18 stocks that declined. Today’s top performing stocks were CILEASING (+9.4%) HMARKINS (+6.3%) and BETAGLAS (+5.0%), while DANGFLOUR (-5.0%), ETERNA (-5.0%) and SOVERNINS (-4.3%) led laggards. We anticipate this positive performance to be sustained in subsequent sessions as investors take positions in growth stocks which will buoy market performance.

Market Statistics Monday, 30th April 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                                       14,948.5

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                         48.8

NSE All-Share Index                                 41,268.56

Daily Performance %                                          0.1

Week Performance %                                         1.2

YTD Performance %                                           7.9

Daily Volume (Million)                                      450.5

Daily Value (N’bn)                                                5.0

Daily Value (US$’m)                                           16.2