Losses in banking stocks drag equities market… NSE ASI down 0.7%

The bearish run in the domestic bourse was extended into the third consecutive session as losses in Bellwethers dragged the All Share Index (ASI) 0.7% lower to settle at 38,669.43 points while YTD return declined to 1.1%. Conversely, investors gained N9.5bn as market capitalization rose to N14.0tn. Today’s negative performance was largely due to sell-offs in banking stocks – ZENITH (-3.4%), GUARANTY (-1.2%) and UBA (-3.6%). Activity level strengthened as volume and value traded advanced 16.3% and 32.8% to 390.5m units and N6.1bn respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were UBA (123.0m), ZENITH (35.8m) and ACCESS (34.8m) while UBA (N1.3bn), GUARANTY (N927.1m) and ZENITH (N919.9m) were the top traded stocks by value.

Sector performance was also bearish as 4 of the 5 indices under our coverage trended southwards. The Banking index shed the most as selloffs in ZENITH (-3.4%), GUARANTY (-1.2%) and UBA (-3.6%) pulled the index 2.3% lower. The Insurance index trailed, down 0.6% due to losses in WAPIC (-4.1%), PRESTIGE (-6.3%) and EQUITYASSUR (-4.2%). Similarly, the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices closed in the red, down 0.4% apiece as a result of profit taking in FORTE (-4.9%), CONOIL (-6.3%), CCNN (-5.5%), WAPCO (-0.3%) and BETAGLAS (-1.2%). On the other hand, the Consumer Goods index emerged the lone gainer as bargain hunting in INTBREW (+6.5%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.1%) pushed the index 0.1% higher after losses in the prior week.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.4x (12 stocks advanced against 36 decliners) from 1.7x in the previous session. INTBREW (+6.5%), JAPAULOIL (+5.3%) and CILEASING (+5.2%) led the gainers’ chart today while PRESTIGE (-6.2%), UNIONDAC (-5.0%) and FLOURMILL (-4.9%) declined the most. In subsequent trading sessions, we anticipate that the bearish run will continue as profit taking across market bellwethers is sustained. Nevertheless, we believe investors will start to take advantage of bargain hunting opportunities by the end of the week.

Market Statistics Tuesday, 19th June 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                            14,000.9

Market Cap (US$’bn)                              45.7

NSE All-Share Index                       38,669.43

Daily Performance %                              (0.7)

Week Performance %                             (1.3)

YTD Performance %                                1.1

Daily Volume (Million)                          390.5

Daily Value (N’bn)                                    6.1

Daily Value (US$’m)                              20.0