Nigerian Stock Market opens on a positive note…ASI up 37bps

The domestic equities market gained 37bps in today’s trading session to settle at 32,962.82 points due to bargain hunting in ZENITH (+4.8%), UNILEVER (+8.2%) and SEPLAT (+4.9%). As a result, market capitalisation appreciated by N44.22 billion to N12.03 trillion while YTD return improved to 13.7 per cent. Consequently, activity level improved as average volume and value traded advanced 21.4 per cent and 239.9 per cent to 212.4 million units and N4.9 billion respectively. GUARANTY (74.2m units), DIAMOND (43.0m units) and UACN (16.7m units) were the top traded stocks by volume while the top traded stocks by value were GUARANTY (N2.7bn), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N984.0bn) and STANBIC (N230.8bn).

Performance across sectors was bullish as 4 of 5 indices under our coverage trended upwards. The Oil & Gas index advanced the most, up 2.9 per cent, following buy interests in SEPLAT (+4.9%), OANDO (+2.9%) and FO (+1.7%) while the Insurance and Banking indices trailed, appreciating 0.8 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively on account of gains recorded in CUSTODIAN (+7.8%), CONTINSURE (+2.8%), ZENITH (+4.8%) and STANBIC (+2.2%). UNILEVER (+8.2%) led the Consumer Goods index up 0.4 per cent. On the flip side, the Industrial Index shed 2.7 per cent due to losses in WAPCO (-10.0%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.1x from 0.9x recorded on Friday, as 17 stocks appreciated against 16 decliners. The best performing stocks were UNILEVER (+8.2%), CUSTODIAN (+7.8%) and UNIONDAC (+7.1%) while WAPCO (-10.0%), NEIMETH (-10.0%) and HONEYFLOUR (-7.3%) led the worst performers. Although we maintain a bearish outlook for the market in the long term, we do not rule out the possibility of a sustained bullish run amidst third quarter earnings releases.

Market Statistics Monday, 22nd October 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                                          12,034.0

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                            39.3

NSE All-Share Index                                     32,962.82

Daily Performance %                                            0.4

Week Performance %                                           1.7

YTD Performance %                                         (13.8)

Daily Volume (Million)                                      257.8

Daily Value (N’bn)                                                4.9

Daily Value (US$’m)                                           16.2