Buy interest in DANGCEM drives blue chips index higher… ASI up 70bps

The domestic equities market performed positively today following buy interest in DANGCEM (+3.0%) as ex-DANGECM the market would have closed in the red. As a result, the benchmark index gained 70bps to 32,664.63 points, market capitalisation increased by N83.0bn to N11.9tn while YTD return improved to -14.6%. Activity level was however mixed as volume traded declined 27.9% to 173.6m units while value traded inched 2.8% higher to N3.8bn. Today’s top traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (54.8m units), ZENITH (37.2m units) and FBNH (11.0m units) while GUARANTY (N2.0bn), ZENITH (N0.8bn) and ETI (N0.2bn) were the top traded stocks by value.

Performance across sectors was largely bearish as 4 of 5 indices under our coverage trended southwards. The Banking index was the worst performing, shedding 0.6% on the back of sell offs in ETI (-2.6%), GUARANTY (-0.5%) and ACCESS (-2.5%). The Insurance and Consumer Goods indices trailed, down 0.3% and 0.1% respectively due to losses in CONTINSURE (-2.7%), WAPIC (-7.0%), DANGSUGAR (-2.0%) and FLOURMILL (-0.2%). In the same vein, the Oil & Gas index declined, down 0.1% due to sell pressures in ETERNA (-3.2%). On the flip side, buying interest in DANGCEM (+3.0%) drove the Industrial Goods index 1.7% higher.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) improved marginally to 0.6x, albeit still soft from 0.5x recorded yesterday consequent on 13 stocks advancing relative to 22 that declined. Today’s top performers were LAWUNION (+6.4%), PRESTIGE (+6.1%) and HMARKINS (+3.6%) while VITAFOAM (-10.0%), CILEASIN (-9.7%) and NASCON (-9.4%) led laggards. We expect bargain hunting in bellwethers to drive market performance tomorrow. Nevertheless, we maintain a bearish outlook for the domestic equities market in the near term.

Market Statistics Thursday, 18th October 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                                  11,925.1

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                     39.0

NSE All-Share Index                              32,664.63

Daily Performance %                                       0.7

Week Performance %                                      0.8

YTD Performance %                                     (14.6)

Daily Volume (Million)                                   173.6

Daily Value (N’bn)                                             3.8

Daily Value (US$’m)                                         12.3

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