Banking stocks drag down market index, NSE ASI drops 15bps

The bearish run in the local bourse was sustained to the second session of the week as sell pressures in Banking stocks – ZENITH (-4.0%), FBNH (-4.2%), GUARANTY (-0.7%) – dragged the NSE All Share Index (ASI) lower by 15bps to close at 40,615.42 points while YTD return declined to 6.2%. Consequently, investors lost N22.5bn as market capitalization fell to N14.7tn. Activity level, however, was mixed as volume of shares traded contracted by 7.0% to 203.4m units while value of shares traded rose by 98.5% to N4.4bn. Today’s top traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (37.2m), UBA (31.5m) and FIDELITY (14.5m) while the top traded stocks by value were GUARANTY (N1.6bn), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N735.2m) and NESTLE (N510.7m).

Contrary to market performance, there was a largely bullish sector performance as 3 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the green. The Banking index was the lone loser, shedding 1.3% as selloffs in ZENITH (-4.0%), GUARANTY (-0.7%) and DIAMOND (-9.4%) dragged the index. On the other hand, the Consumer Goods index led gainers, up 1.4% as investors took advantage of bargain hunting opportunities in NESTLE (+2.8%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+2.3%). Similarly, the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices followed, closing up 95bps and 8bps respectively as buy interest in CONTINSU (+4.2%) and WAPIC (+3.9%) and CAP (+2.8%) buoyed the indices. The Oil & Gas index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened further to 0.5x from 0.7x recorded yesterday as 12 stocks advanced against 26 that declined. SOVERNINS (+5.0%), CONTINSURE (+4.2%), and NPFMCRFB (+3.9%) led the gainers chart today while VERISTASKAP (-9.5%), DIAMOND (-9.4%) and SKYE (-5.6%) declined the most. Notwithstanding today’s bearish performance, we expect investors to continue to seek bargain hunting opportunities across bellwether stocks as observed in today’s trading session.

Market Statistics Tuesday, 15th May 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                               14,712.1

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                  48.1

NSE All-Share Index                           40,615.42

Daily Performance %                                   (0.2)

Week Performance %                                 (1.3)

YTD Performance %                                     6.2

Daily Volume (Million)                                203.4

Daily Value (N’bn)                                          4.4

Daily Value (US$’m)                                      14.5

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