Bears continue to rule Nigerian Equities Market

The bearish run in the domestic bourse continued as losses in ETI (-2.6%), UBA (-1.7%) and CUSTODIAN (-5.8%) pulled the All-Share Index (ASI) down 6bps to 26,583.75 points. YTD loss stayed at -15.4 per cent while investors lost N7.4 billion as market capitalisation closed at N12.9 trillion. However, activity level soared as volume and value traded rose by 49.5 per cent and 290.1 per cent to 363.2 million units and N19.0 billion respectively. The most active stocks by volume were DANGCEM (114.7m units), ACCESS (80.7m units) and FCMB (51.6m units) while DANGCEM (N16.6bn), ACCESS (N592.7m) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N385.6m) led by value.

Across sectors under our coverage, performance was largely bearish as 4 of 6 indices dipped. The Insurance index lost the most, down 1.2 per cent following sell-offs in WAPIC (-8.6%) and LINKASSURE (-7.8%) while the Banking index lost 24bps due to losses in ETI (-2.6%) and UBA (-1.7%). Also, the Consumer Goods and Industrial Goods indices lost 7bps and 1bps respectively as price depreciation in FLOURMILL (-1.7%), HONEYFLOUR (-5.0%) and CUTIX (-3.2%) dragged the indices. Meanwhile, the AFR-ICT and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 0.5x from 0.8x recorded in previous session as 8 stocks gained against 15 losers. The top gainers were LEARNAFRCA (+9.8%), LIVESTOCK (+9.3%) and UCAP (+7.5%) while WAPIC (-8.6%), LINKASSURE (-7.8%) and CUSTODIAN (-5.8%) were the top losers. The bears are expected to have the market as investor sentiment continues to wane.

Market Statistics Thursday, 10th October, 2019