Profit taking in DANGCEM drags equities market… ASI down 32bps

The equities market shed gains from the prior week as the All Share Index (ASI) declined 32bps to 35,311.36 points. As a result, YTD loss worsened to -7.7% while market capitalization decreased by N41.0bn to N12.9tn. The negative performance was driven by profit taking in DANGCEM (-2.1%) as ex-DANGCEM the market would have closed 43bps higher. Similarly, activity level waned as volume and value traded fell 66.7% and 56.6% to 175.8m units and N1.9bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were NAHCO (19.2m), ACCESS (16.8m), and DIAMOND (13.2m), while NESTLE (N270.7m), ZENITH (N230.4m) and BETAGLASS (N197.9m) were the top traded stocks by value.

Across sectors, performance was largely positive as 4 of 5 indices closed in the green. The Banking and Insurance indices rose 1.0% apiece as investors took position in GUARANTY (+1.3%), UBA (+1.9%), CUSTODIAN (+4.2%) and LINKASSURE (+9.5%). The Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices trailed, inching 0.5% and 0.2% higher respectively as TOTAL (+1.9%), FLOURMILL (+9.8%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.5%) recorded gains. On the flip side, the Industrial Goods index was the lone loser, down 0.8% as investors booked profit in DANGCEM (-2.1%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.9x from 1.2x recorded on Friday as 26 stocks advanced against 14 stocks that declined. The best performers were NIGERINS (+10.0%), DIAMOND (+10.0%) and FLOURMILL (+9.8%) while FIRSTALUM (-10.0%), IKEJAHOTEL (-9.7%) and UNIVINSURE (-9.1%) were the worst performers. In subsequent sessions, we expect a positive performance as investors position in bellwethers with attractive entry prices.

Market Statistics Monday, 27th August 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                             12,891.4

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                42.1

NSE All-Share Index                          35,311.36

Daily Performance %                                (0.3)

Week Performance %                                 1.9

YTD Performance %                                  (7.7)

Daily Volume (Million)                              175.8

Daily Value (N’bn)                                       2.0

Daily Value (US$’m)                                   6.4