Market Statistics Thursday, 16th March, 2017

Market Cap (N’bn) 8,796.7
Market Cap (US$’bn) 28.7
NSE All-Share Index 25,418.08
Daily Performance % 0.5
Week Performance % 1.0
YTD Performance % (5.4)
Daily Volume (Million) 279.9
Daily Value (N’bn) 1.9
Daily Value (US$’m) 6.3

The equities market extended its positive streak to the third consecutive trading day. At the close of trade today, the All Share Index (ASI) added 46 basis points to close at 25,418.08 points while year to date loss improved to -5.4%.
Consequently, investors gained N40.4bn as market capitalisation settled at N8.8 trillion. Market performance was largely boosted by NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+2.4%), GUARANTY (+1.7%) and ZENITH (+2.8%) which offset the decline in DANGCEM (-0.3%).
On the other hand, activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 19.7 per cent to settle at 279.9 million units while value traded fell 11.1 per cent to settle at N1.9 billion.
Performance across sectors remained positive with the Industrial goods index emerging the lone loser dragged by a decline in DANGCEM (-0.3%). The Banking index topped the gainers’ chart driven by further gains in GUARANTY (+1.7%) and ZENITH (+2.8%) while the Consumer goods index added 96 basis points due to price appreciation in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+2.4%) and UNILEVER (+0.3%). Likewise, gains in MANSARD (+1.3%) led the Insurance index to close 0.2 per cent higher while the oil & Gas index marginally added 7 basis points despite TOTAL’s impressive FY:2016 report in which Revenue grew 39.9 per cent year on year to N291.0 billion while profit after tax surged 265.6 per cent year on year to N14.8 billion.
TOTAL declared a final dividend of N7.00 per share, implying 2.5 per cent dividend yield. The positive close for the Oil & Gas index was on the back of gains in FORTE (+2.3%) and OANDO (+1.4%) which offset the decline in TOTAL (-1.9%).
Investor sentiment improved today as market breadth (advancers/decliners ratio) rose to 1.4x (from 1.1x recorded yesterday) consequent on 18 advancing stocks against 13 decliners. The best performing stocks were PORTPAINT (+4.5%), UAC-PROP (+4.4%) and STERLING (+4.3%) while 7UP (-9.6%), CUSTODYINS (-5.0%) and ASHAKACEM (-5.0%) declined the most.
Given the uptrend in market lately with no major driver boosting performance, we believe the bullish streak may be short-lived. Nevertheless, we anticipate a positive close for the benchmark index in the week.

Afrinvest