Domestic Equities Market: Local Bourse Bucks 4-Week Bearish Performance…ASI up 0.3% W-o-W

This week, increased buying interest in bellwethers – FBNH, NESTLE and DANGCEM – outweighed sell offs in ACCESS, UBN and ETI, hence, the All Share Index (ASI) rose 0.3% W-o-W to settle at 30,773.64 points. As a result, YTD return moderated to -19.5% while market capitalisation declined by N33.7bn to N11.2tn. In the same vein, activity level improved as average volume and value traded increased by 26.0% and 26.5% W-o-W to 294.3m units and N3.7bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were UNIONDAC (275.7m units), ZENITH (196.5m units) and ACCESS (106.8m units) while ZENITH (N4.5bn), GUARANTY (N2.1bn) and DANGCEM (N1.1bn) were the top traded stocks by value.

During the week, market performance exhibited an undulating pattern, opening on a negative note due to losses in GUARANTY, FBNH and UNILEVER. In subsequent sessions, investors sought to make short term gains as performance rose 70bps before shedding 38bps by midweek. To close the week, the market pared gains from Thursday’s session, down 13bps as investors booked profit for the week.

Across sectors, performance was positive as 4 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the green. The Insurance index led advancers, up 3.5% due to gains in NEM (+20.9%) and WAPIC (+5.0%) W-o-W. The Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices trailed, rising 2.3% and 1.1% respectively following buying interest in FORTE (+18.0%), MOBIL (+18.0%), CCNN (+13.4%) and DANGCEM (+1.1%). Similarly, price appreciation in NESTLE (+1.4%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.6%) drove the Consumer Goods index 0.9% higher. On the flip side, the Banking index was the lone loser, down 2.2% as ACCESS (-5.4%) and ETI (-5.0%) witnessed sell pressures.

Investor sentiment strengthened this week as market breadth (advance/decline ratio) improved to 2.1x from 0.9x the prior week consequent on 47 stocks advancing relative to 22 stocks that declined. The best performing stocks for the week were DIAMONDBNK (+57.9%), UNITY (+39.1%) and NEIMETH (+31.7%) while UPDC (-18.5%), IKEJAHOTEL (-9.6%) and JAPAULOIL (-9.1%) led laggards. In the coming week, we expect market performance to remain positive as fund managers rebalance portfolios ahead of the new year.

Market Statistics Friday, 21th December 2018  

Market Cap (N’bn)                                      11,240.6

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                         36.7

NSE All-Share Index                                   30,773.64

Daily Performance %                                          (0.1)

1 Week Performance %                                        0.3

YTD Performance %                                          (19.5)

Daily Volume (Million)                                        193.5

Daily Value (N’bn)                                                  3.7

Daily Value (US$’m)                                              12.0