Equities rebound after 5-day losing streak… NSE ASI expands 57bps

At the close of trade today, the Nigerian equities market rebounded from a 5-day losing streak as the All Share Index (ASI) rose 0.6 per cent to close at 35,609.07 points while YTD return advanced to 32.5 per cent. Accordingly, investors gained N70.7 billion as market capitalisation settled at N12.3 trillion. The major drivers were DANGCEM (+1.0%), ZENITH (+2.9%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.4%) and GUINNESS (+10.2%). Similarly, activity level improved as volume and value traded rose 22.5 per cent and 13.6 per cent to 281.8m units and N5.4 billion respectively.

Mixed Sector Performance
Sector performance was mixed as 3 of 5 indices closed positive. The Oil & Gas index led sector gainers, up 1.3 per cent as a result of bargain  hunting in SEPLAT (+3.4%). In the same vein, buy interest  in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.4%), GUINNESS (+10.2%), ZENITH (+2.9%) and STANBIC (+1.3%) buoyed the Consumer Goods and Banking indices by 0.8% and 0.1 per cent respectively. On the flip side, despite an uptick in DANGCEM (+1.0%), the Industrial Goods index closed 0.5 per cent lower due to losses in WAPCO (-2.5%). Likewise, the Insurance index fell 0.4 per cent on account of price depreciation in CUSTODYINS (-2.8%) and LINKASSURE (-4.5%).

Investor sentiment remains soft
Investor sentiment remained soft as market breadth stayed flat at 0.9x after 22 stocks advanced against 23 decliners. Today’s top gainers were GUINNESS (+10.2%), REDSTAREX (+9.8%) and AIRSERVICE (+4.9%) while the top losers were PZ (-5.0%), MORISON (-4.9%) and LINKASSURE (-4.5%). Whilst today’s performance comes in positive, the relatively soft market breadth suggests investors are still taking profit. Hence, we are of the view that the equities market may trade sideways in the short term.

Market Statistics Wednesday, 6th September 2017
Market Cap (N’bn)                                   12,273.5
Market Cap (US$’bn)                                     40.2
NSE All-Share Index                               35,609.07
Daily Performance %                                       0.6
Week Performance %                                    (0.1)
YTD Performance %                                     32.5
Daily Volume (Million)                                 281.8
Daily Value (N’bn)                                           5.4
Daily Value (US$’m)                                     17.8