Profit taking halt positive run at NSE as ASI down 48bps

Trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange posted a bearish performance as profit taking in bellwethers – DANGCEM (-1.1%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.4%) – dragged the All Share Index 48bps lower to close at 41,107.81 points while YTD return declined to 7.5 per cent. Consequently, investors lost N71.8 billion as market capitalisation fell to N14.9 trillion. However, activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 16.0 per cent to 320.4 million units while value traded was down 30.9 per cent to N4.8 billion. Top traded stocks by volume were UBA (79.9m), ACCESS (57.0m) and ETRANZACT (20.3m) while the top traded by value were UBA (N935.2m), ACCESS (N644.4m) and ZENITH (N488.3m).

Performance across sectors under our coverage was mixed as 2 of 5 indices closed in the green. The Banking and Insurance indices were up 0.8% and 0.2% respectively on account of bargain hunting in ETI (+3.5%), GUARANTY (+0.6%), UBN (+3.1%) and CONTISURE (+4.6%). On the flipside, the Consumer Goods index declined 1.5%, due to selloffs in INTERBREW (-8.3%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.4%) and UNILEVER (-4.4%) while the Oil & Gas index trailed, shedding 0.8% as investors exited positions in OANDO (-4.9%) and FORTE (-4.9%). Similarly, the Industrial Goods index lost 0.2% following profit taking in DANGCEM (-1.1%).

Investor sentiment measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 1.0x from 1.5x as 25 stocks advanced against 25 stocks that declined. The top performing stocks were UNITY (+9.5%), CCNN (+7.6%) and JAIZ (+7.1%) while the leading laggards were INTERBREW (-8.3%), DANGSUGAR (-5.0%) and DANGFLOUR (-5.0%). Despite today’s bearish performance, we expect  the market to close the week in the green as investors continue to seek for bargain hunting.

Market Statistics Thursday, 3rd May 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)

14,890.5

Market Cap (US$’bn)

48.6

NSE All-Share Index

41,107.81

Daily Performance %

(0.5)

Week Performance %

0.8

YTD Performance %

7.5

Daily Volume (Million)

320.4

Daily Value (N’bn)

4.8

Daily Value (US$’m)

15.6