Nigerian Stock Market halts bullish streak… ASI down 2.5% w/w

Last week, the domestic equities market performed negatively as investors took profit in DANGCEM (-10.7%), WAPCO (-10.7%) and ZENITH (-3.6%). Consequently, the NSE All-Share Index closed in the red, shedding 2.5% w/w to settle at 34,250.74 points. Similarly, YTD return moderated to 27.6% while market capitalisation fell ₦463.7bn w/w to ₦17.9tn. Activity level was mixed as average volume traded rose 35.2% to 453.0m units while value traded fell 17.4% to ₦4.2bn. The top traded stocks by volume were UBA (275.2m units), FBNH (146.1m units) and ZENITH (143.4m units) while GUARANTY (₦4.5bn), ZENITH (₦3.3bn) and UBA (₦2.3bn) led by value. 

Performance across sectors was bearish as all indices under our coverage trended southward w/w. The Industrial Goods and Banking indices declined 5.0% and 2.9% respectively on the back of sell pressures in WAPCO (-10.7%), DANGCEM (-8.0%), ACCESS (-5.8%) and ZENITH (-5.2%). Trailing, the Insurance and AFR-ICT indices lost, shedding 1.8% apiece due to price depreciation in REGALINS (-16.7%), AIICO (-4.5%), CHAMS (-4.5%) and MTNN (-0.8%). Similarly, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices fell 1.6% and 0.3% respectively on account of sell-offs in CHAMPION (-8.2%), FLOURMILL (-6.8%) and ARDOVA (-6.8%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.3x from 0.4x as 14 stocks advanced against the 43 that declined. The top performing stocks for the week were FTNCOCOA (+51.7%), UNIONDAC (+16.0%) and OKOMUOIL (+10.0%) while REGALINS (-16.7%), UPL (-14.3%) and NEIMETH (-12.4%) were the laggards. In the coming week, we anticipate that investors will partake in profit-taking activities.