Nestle, Seplat, Nigeria Breweries lift Stock market as ASI up 0.2%

The domestic equities market sustained its positive momentum in today’s trading session as price appreciation in NESTLE (+6.5%), SEPLAT (+2.4%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.5%) drove the All Share Index (ASI) 0.2 per cent higher to 37,017.78 points while YTD loss improved to 3.2 per cent. As a result, investors gained N30.0 billion in value as market capitalisation rose to N13.4 trillion. However, activity level was mixed as volume traded fell 23.3% to 244.9 million units while value traded advanced 47.4 per cent to N4.5 billion. GUARANTY (39.6m), UBA (27.9m) and STERLING (26.9m) were the top traded stocks by volume while GUARANTY (N1.6bn), NESTLE (N1.4bn) and UBA ( N0.3bn) led the top traded stocks by value.

Across sectors, performance was equally positive as 4 of 5 indices closed in the green. The Consumer Goods index led gainers, up 2.2 per cent on the back of buy interest in NESTLE (+6.5%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.5%). The Insurance and Oil & Gas indices trailed, rising 1.3 per cent and 1.2% per cent respectively due to price appreciation in MANSARD (+3.1%), EQUITYASSUR (+10.0%) and SEPLAT (+2.4%). In the same vein, bargain hunting in CCNN (+3.3%) drove the Industrial Goods index 0.1 per cent higher. On the flip side, the Banking index was the lone loser, down 1.4 per cent as ZENITH (-3.0%) and GUARANTY (-1.1%) recorded losses.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.7x from 1.4x recorded in the previous trading session as 17 stocks advanced against 24 stocks that declined. The best performing stocks were EQUITYASSUR (+10.0%), PRESTIGE (+9.6%) and MBENEFIT (+9.1%) while DIAMOND (-10.0%), OKOMU ( -10.0%) and JAIZ (-9.4%) led laggards. We expect this bullish sentiment to be maintained in subsequent trading sessions as investors take position ahead of the release of more H1:2018 results. Nevertheless, we do not rule out the possibility of profit taking following four consecutive days of gains.

Market Statistics Tuesday, 31st July 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                          13,409.7

Market Cap (US$’bn)                            43.8

NSE All-Share Index                     37.017.78

Daily Performance %                             0.2

Week Performance %                           1.5

YTD Performance %                           (3.2)

Daily Volume (Million)                        244.9

Daily Value (N’bn)                                  4.5

Daily Value (US$’m)                            14.7