Buying interest in cheap assets drives positive performance at NSE

Despite profit taking on 3 of 5 trading days this week, the local bourse closed positive as buying interest in fundamentally sound stocks GUARANTY, ZENITH, STANBIC drove the index higher W-o-W. On Monday, sell-offs in NIGERIAN BREWERIES and UBN led the benchmark index to shed 27bps. However, the negative performance was upturned on Tuesday as significant bargain hunting in DANGCEM, NESTLE and GUARANTY buoyed the ASI by 2.0%. On Wednesday and Thursday, profit taking in DANGCEM, NESTLE and GUARANTY cumulatively dragged the benchmark index 107bps lower. There was however mild bargain hunting on Friday as we saw price appreciation in STANBIC and FBNH. Following this, the local bourse closed the week in the green, up 0.7% W-o-W, settling at 32,766.37 points while YTD loss worsened to 14.3%.

Activity level was however mixed as average volume declined 21.4% to N184.9bn while average value inched 6.5% higher to N2.8bn. GUARANTY (120.1m units) UBA (84.5m units) and FIDELITY (82.8m units) were top traded stocks by volume while GUARANTY (N4.3bn), ZENITH (N1.6bn) and NESTLE (N1.5bn) were the top traded by value.

Performance across sectors was negative as 3 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the red. The Industrial Goods index declined the most, down 1.4% following profit taking in WAPCO (-5.5%) and BERGER (-8.7%). Similarly, sell pressures in FORTE (-6.7%), TOTAL (-3.5%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.6%) and GUINNESS (-9.1%) dragged the Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices by 0.7% and 0.5%. On the flip side, the Banking and Insurance indices rose 2.5% and 0.9% respectively as investors bought positions in GUARANTY (+5.3%), ZENITH (+3.4%), MANSARD (+4.8%) and LINKASSURE (+9.4%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth weakened to 0.7x from 2.0x recorded last week following price appreciation in 27 stocks compared to 40 stocks that declined. NIGERINS (+19.4%), UACPROP (+14.7%) and FIRSTALUM (+10.8%) advanced the most this week while UBN (-12.1%), UNIONDAC (-10.5%) and LIVESTOCK (-9.5%) declined the most. We expect weak sentiments will remain in the near term. Nevertheless, we believe opportunities to buy cheap assets exist for investors with medium to long term investment horizons.

Market Statistics Friday, 28th September 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                                11,962.3

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                   39.1

NSE All-Share Index                            32,766.37

Daily Performance %                                    0.0

Week Performance %                                   0.7

YTD Performance %                                 (14.3)

Daily Volume (Million)                              184.5

Daily Value (N’bn)                                        2.8

Daily Value (US$’m)                                    9.2

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