Bearish outing marks NGX trading as ASI down 10bps

At the trading floor of Nigerian Exchange sustained sell pressure on bellwether stocks – ACCESSCORP (-4.2%), OANDO (-4.8%), and UBA (-1.7%) – pulled the local bourse back into the red, as the NGX-ASI lost 10bps to print at 109,619.10 points. Consequently, YTD return fell to 6.5% (previously 6.6%), while market capitalisation shed 10bps to N68.9tn.
Activity level varied as volume traded rose 33.6% to 664.2m units while value traded fell 1.6% to N13.0bn.
Performance Performance across our coverage sectors was mixed, albeit negatively skewed, as three indices lost, two gained, while the AFR-ICT index closed flat. The Banking index lost the most, down by 0.8% due to selloffs on ACCESSCORP (-4.2%), UBA (-1.7%), and FIRSTHOLDCO (-1.2%). Following, the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices fell 0.5% and 0.1% accordingly, due to price depreciation in OANDO (-4.8%) and WAPCO (-0.9%). However, the Insurance and Consumer Goods indices rose 1.1% and 0.5% sequentially, thanks to buy interest in MANSARD (+4.8%), CUSTODIAN (+2.0%), NESTLE (+8.6%), and NB (+0.3%).
Outlook Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, improved to 0.01x (previously: -0.03x) as 30 stocks gained, 29 lost while 68 closed flat. Tomorrow, we expect the local bourse to return to the green territory due to the improved market sentiment, barring any negative shock.