Domestic Equities Market extend losses… ASI down 0.2%

Today, sell-offs in NESTLE (-4.9%), CCNN (-6.6%) and DANGCEM (-0.5%) dragged the benchmark index 16bps lower for the fifth consecutive trading session as the All Share Index (ASI) settled at 27,047.58 points. YTD loss worsened to -13.9% while N20.6bn was lost in value as market capitalisation fell to N13.2tn. However, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded advanced 25.4% and 13.2% to 364.2m units and N4.9bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (78.6m units), COURTVILLE (49.0m units) and ACCESS (43.9m units) while top traded stocks by value were GUARANTY (N2.1bn), ZENITH (N732.9m) and DANGCEM (N683.7m).

Performance across sectors under our coverage was largely bearish as 4 of 6 indices closed southward. The Consumer Goods index declined the most as continuous sell-offs in NESTLE (-4.9%) dragged the index by 2.2%. Similarly, the Industrial Goods and Insurance indices lost 1.6% and 0.5% respectively on the back of losses in CCNN (-6.6%), DANGCEM (-0.5%) and CONTINSURE (-7.4%). Also, price depreciation in FORTE (-3.5%) dragged the Oil & Gas index by 0.2%. On the flip side, the Banking index rose 1.0% following buying interest in FBNH (+10.0%) and GUARANTY (+7.7%) while gains in MTNN (+0.3%) buoyed the AFR-ICT index 0.2% higher.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.5x from 1.1x recorded yesterday as 18 stocks advanced against 12 stocks that declined. The best performing stocks were UAC-PROP (+9.3%), FBNH (+7.5%) and DANGFLOUR (+6.0%) while THOMASWY (-9.5%), CONTINSURE (-7.4%) and CCNN (-6.6%) were the worst performers. Today’s session saw higher sell pressures in major bellwethers extend the bearish run of the ASI. Consequently, we maintain a negative outlook for the market.

Market Statistics Tuesday, 10th September 2019