Profit taking reverses positive performance… NSE ASI down 70bps

Today, profit taking in market bellwethers – INTBREW (-8.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.3%), WAPCO (-10.0%) and DANGCEM (-0.4%) – reversed gains recorded in the preceding session, pushing the benchmark index 0.7% lower to 32,455.24 points while YTD loss declined to 4.7% – its lowest level since October 2017. As a result, investors lost N93.0bn as market capitalization fell to N13.2tn. However, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded advanced 67.6% and 100.1% to 378.7m units and N4.4bn respectively. The top traded srocks by volume were MEDVIEWAIR (100.0m units), TRANSCORP (45.5m units) and ZENITH (42.7m) while the top traded stocks by value were ZENITH (N988.5), GUARANTY (N545.5bn) and DANGCEM (N499.5bn).

Performance across sectors was largely bearish as 4 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the red. The Industrial Goods index led decliners, shedding 3.9% as investors sold off on WAPCO (-10.0%) and DANGCEM (-0.4%). The Consumer Goods index followed, losing 0.7% on the back of price depreciation in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.3%) and DANGSUGAR (- 4.8%) while sustained selloffs in TOTAL (-7.0%) and OANDO (-2.9%) dragged the Oil & Gas index 0.5% lower. Similarly, the Banking index reversed gains from yesterday as investors exited positions in UBA (-2.7%) and FIDELITY (-9.5%). On the flipside, the Insurance index was the lone advancer, up 0.2%, as investors took advantage of bargain hunting opportunity in CUSTODIAN (+9.9%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio ) weakened to 0.6x from 1.1x recorded yesterday as 16 stocks advanced against 29 stocks that declined. Today’s top gaining stocks were CUTIX (+10.0%), CUSTODIAN (+9.9%) and WAPIC (+4.8%) while BETAGLAS (-10.0%), WAPCO (-10.0%) and PRESCO (-10.0%) were the worst performing stocks. Our observation of trading today saw investors react negatively to disappointing earnings of DANGSUGAR and WAPCO. Going forward, we expect trading activities over the near term to be dictated by a balance of play between investors’ reaction to earnings releases and bargain hunting on fundamentally sound stocks trading at attractive entry prices.

Market Statistics Tuesday, 24th July 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                           13,205.9

Market Cap (US$’bn)                              43.1

NSE All-Share Index                        36,455.25

Daily Performance %                                (0.7)

Week Performance %                               (1.4)

YTD Performance %                                 (4.7)

Daily Volume (Million)                               378.7

Daily Value (N’bn)                                        4.4

Daily Value (US$’m)                                   14.4