Investors gained N111.9bn at stock market as ASI up 0.8%

At the start of the week investors gained N111.9 billion just as the benchmark index rose 0.8 per cent to settle at 36,946.18 points while YTD loss moderated to 3.4 per cent. As a result, market capitalisation grew to N13.4 trillion. The positive performance was traceable to gains in SEPLAT (+10.0%), GUARANTY (+2.3%) and STANBIC (+2.6%). However, activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 2.6 per cent to 319.4 million units while value traded declined 12.6 per cent to N3.0 billion. The top traded stocks by volume were MEDVIEWAIR (100.0m), STERLING (34.0m) and UBA (32.5m) while NESTLE (N1.2bn), GUARANTY (N411.5m) and UBA (N316.1m) were the top traded stocks by value.

Across sectors, performance was mixed as 3 of 5 indices under our coverage trended northwards. The Oil & Gas index emerged top performer, up 5.0% on the back of buy interest in SEPLAT (+10.0%), FORTE (+4.4%) and ETERNA (+3.4%). Similarly, the Banking and Consumer Goods indices rose 1.5% and 0.6% respectively as a result of gains in GUARANTY (+2.3%), UBN (+5.4%), UBA (+1.0%), DANGSUGAR (+3.0%), FLOURMILL (+8.1%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.5%). On the flip side, the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices fell 0.6% and 0.2% respectively following profit taking in CUSTODIAN (-2.0%), MANSARD (-3.0%), WAPIC (-9.1%) and CCNN (-4.3%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) softened, albeit  still strong, to 1.4x from 3.3x recorded in the preceding session as 31 stocks advanced compared to 22 decliners. The top performing stocks were SEPLAT (+10.0%), MBENEFIT (+10.0%) and NNFM (+9.9%) while PHARMDEKO (-10.0%), CONOIL (-10.0%) and MEDVIEWAIR (-9.8%) were the worst performing stocks. In line with our expectation, the bullish trend was sustained in today’s session. Thus, we believe this positive run will persist as investors continue to take position in anticipation of more H1:2018 earnings releases.

Market Statistics Monday, 30th July 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                               13,383.7

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                 43.7

NSE All-Share Index                          36,946.18

Daily Performance %                                  0.8

Week Performance %                                 0.6

YTD Performance %                                  (3.4)

Daily Volume (Million)                              319.4

Daily Value (N’bn)                                       3.0

Daily Value (US$’m)                                 10.0