NSE ASI up 12bps

The Nigerian equities market, on the first trading day of the week, extended gains from the previous week as the benchmark index climbed 12bps to 33,301.43 points, thus nudging YTD gain to 23.9 per cent. Today’s performance was largely driven by strengthened sentiment towards Consumer Goods stocks – NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+2.2%), UNILEVER (+10.2%), 7UP (+6.4%) and FLOURMILL (+5.0%) – as well as market heavyweight, DANGCEM (+0.1%). Consequently, investors accumulated N13.7 billion in value as market capitalization increased to N11.5 trillion. However, activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 3.6% to 322.8m units while value of stocks traded declined 16.4% to N2.7 billion.

Mixed Performance across Sectors
Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 of 5 indices trended southwards. The Insurance index declined the most, down 0.6 per cent due to price depreciation in AIICO (-4.9%) and CONTINSURE (-4.4%) while the Banking and Oil & Gas indices dipped 0.5 per cent apiece on account of profit taking in UBA (-2.2%) and negative reaction to media reports on OANDO (-9.5%) which suggested an ongoing SEC investigation on the company for alleged financial malpractices. On the flip side, the Consumer Goods index rose 1.3 per cent on the back of a broad-based rally in FMCGs stocks which trailed UNILEVER’s (+10.2%) impressive half year results released last Friday. The Company grew revenue by 39.6 per cent Y-o-Y to N45.1bn while PAT surged 236.4% Y-o-Y to N33.7bn, largely driven by high mark up on sales following increase in product prices effected at the start of the year. Lastly, the Industrial Goods index inched 3bps higher as a result of a marginal gain in DANGCEM (+0.1%).

Market Breadth Softens
Market breadth – a gauge of investor sentiment – declined to 0.8x (from 1.9x recorded on Friday) as 22 stocks advanced against 26 which declined. The best performing stocks were UNILEVER (+10.2%), FORTE (+7.7%) and 7UP (+6.4%) while OANDO (-9.5%), NASCON (-4.9%) and SKYEBANK (-4.9%) were the worst performers. Whilst the decline in market breadth is suggestive of waning sentiment towards equities, we expect performance to remain bullish in the short to medium term as expectations of H1:2017 corporate earnings – a major driver of performance at this time – remain positive.

Market Statistics Monday, 17th July 2017
Market Cap (N’bn)                           11,477.4
Market Cap (US$’bn)                             37.5
NSE All-Share Index                      33,301.43
Daily Performance %                               0.1
Week Performance %                              2.1
YTD Performance %                              23.9
Daily Volume (Million)                         332.8
Daily Value (N’bn)                                   2.7
Daily Value (US$’m)                               8.9