Nigerian Equities Market extends losses… ASI Down 1.2% W/W

This week, the local bourse closed in the red extending previous week losses as the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 1.2% w/w to settle at 26,536.21 points. As a result, YTD loss worsened to –15.6% while market capitalisation declined by N218.2bn to N12.8tn. Activity level was mixed as average volume traded fell 10.1% to 155.3m units while value traded increased 14.5% to N1.4bn. The top traded stocks by volume were UNIONDAC (187.2m units), GUARANTY (75.2m units) and ZENITH (66.2m units) while DANGCEM (N4.5bn), GUARANTY (N2.2bn) and NESTLE (N1.2bn) were the top traded stocks by value.

During the week, the domestic equities market opened the first two-trading days bearish as the benchmark index fell 0.7% and 1.1% respectively. On Wednesday and Thursday, buying interest in MTNN, GUARANTY and NIGERIAN BREWERIES drove the ASI higher by 0.2% and 0.5% respectively. Finally, the local bourse pared gains from Thursday’s session, down 0.1% as investors took small profit for the week.

Across sectors, performance was bearish as 4 of 6 indices under our coverage trended southward w/w. The AFR-ICT index led decliners, down 1.3% due to profit-taking in CHAMS (-18.9%) and MTNN (-2.3%). The Banking and Industrial Goods indices trailed, declining 1.2% apiece following sell-offs in UBN (-7.1%), WEMABANK (-4.3%), CUTIX (-11.7%) and BERGER (-10.0%). Similarly, losses in NESTLE (-3.7%) and HONEYFLOUR (-2.9%) drove the Consumer Goods index 0.5% lower. On the flip side, the Insurance and Oil & Gas indices rose 3bps apiece as MANSARD (+9.1%), CORNERSTONE (+4.8%), ETERNA (+7.1%) and OANDO (+0.3%) recorded gains.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.4x from 0.6x in the prior week consequent on 17 stocks advancing relative to 44 stocks that declined. The best performing stocks for the week were PRESCO (+14.9%), DANGSUGAR (+10.3%) and MANSARD (+9.1%) while CHAMS (-18.9%), UNIONDAC (-15.4%) and GLAXOSMITH (-12.5%) led laggards. In the coming week, we expect market performance to remain bearish due to profit-taking activities and the absence of economic buffers.