NSE ASI down 1.3%

Sustained sell offs in the local bourse, which have persisted for 11 days, pulled the All Share Index (ASI) 1.3 per cent lower to 38,104.54 points, its lowest in 5 months while YTD return fell to a deficit of 0.4 per cent. Consequently, investors lost N181.8 billion as market capitalisation fell to N13.8 trillion dragged majorly by NESTLE (-4.4%), DANGCEM (-1.0%) and INTERBREW (-4.8%). Activity level strengthened as volume and value traded inched 39.2 per cent and 108.0 per cent higher to 476.2 million units and N9.9 billion respectively. ZENITH (127.2m units & N3.3bn), GUARANTY (74.0m units & N3.0bn) and UBA (65.6m units & N700.8m) were the top traded by volume and value respectively. Relatedly, StanbicIBTC Holdings Plc today announced a share acquisition by its parent company, Stanbic Africa Holdings, which would increase its shareholding in the Nigerian bank to 64.4 per cent.

Sector performance maintained its bearish trend as 4 of 5 indices we cover closed southwards. The Consumer and Industrial Goods indices lost 2.6 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively on account of continued selloffs in NESTLE (-4.4%), INTERBREW (-4.8%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.9%), DANGCEM (-1.0%) and WAPCO (-4.9%). Similarly, the Banking index declined 1.1 per cent as we saw price depreciation in GUARANTY (-1.2%) and ACCESS (-4.6%) while the Oil & Gas index waned 0.3 per cent due to profit taking in FORTE (-9.1%). On the flipside, the Insurance index gained 0.2 per cent as price appreciations in LINKASSURE (+1.2%) and MBENEFITS  (+2.8%) buoyed the index.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 0.8x from 0.9x as 21 stocks advanced against 26 stocks that declined. Today’s top gainers were CCNN (+10.1%), FCMB (+8.1%) and FBNH (+5.7%) while INTERBREW (-9.6%), FORTE (-9.1%) and OKOMUOIL (-5.9%) were today’s top losers.

Despite the negative performance, we noticed some bargain hunting in small and mid-cap stocks, hence market performance could improve in the final trading session. Our view is further buttressed by the fact that the Relative Strength Index of the market is currently at 12.55 points, which is in the oversold region and this is also an indicator of a reversal.

Market Statistics Thursday, 31st May 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                                     13,802.6

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                       45.1

NSE All-Share Index                                 38,104.54

Daily Performance %                                         (1.3)

Week Performance %                                         (4.1)

YTD Performance %                                           (0.4)

Daily Volume (Million)                                       476.2

Daily Value (N’bn)                                                 9.9

Daily Value (US$’m)                                            32.2