Sell Offs in DANGCEM, NBL  drag down stock prices as investors lost N219.3bn 

In today’s trading session, the domestic market shed 1.9% to settle at 30,557.2 points extending losses to the fourth consecutive trading session. Bellwether stocks – DANGCEM (-2.1%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-5.1%) and ETI (-6.7%) were the major drags to today’s performance. In line with this, market capitalisation declined by N219.3bn to N11.4tn while YTD loss worsened to -2.8%. However, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded rose 40.9% and 11.8% to 348.8m units and N3.5bn respectively. UBA (123.7m units), TRANSCORP (33.2m units) and CUSTODIAN (32.9m units) were the top trades by volume while UBA (N859.3m), ZENITH (N633.3m) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N590.2m) led the top trades by value.

Performance across sectors was negative as all 5 indices under our coverage trended southwards. The Banking and Consumer Goods indices led decliners shedding 2.5% and 1.7% respectively following profit taking in ETI (-6.7%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-5.1%) and UNILEVER (-4.2%). The Insurance index trailed, down 1.4% on the back of losses in CUSTODIAN (-6.1%) and MANSARD (-2.6%) while the Industrial Goods index fell by 1.0% due to sell offs in DANGCEM (-2.1%) and FLOURMILL (-2.4%). OANDO (-2.9%) and ETERNA (-2.3%) led to a 0.4% decline in the Oil & Gas index.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.3x from 1.3x recorded in the last trading session as 8 stocks advanced against 32 decliners. Top performers were MCNICHOLS (+10.0%), LEARNAFRICA (+8.7%) and VITAFOAM (+6.7%) while REDSTAREX (-9.1%), FIRSTALUM (-8.6%) and NIGERINS (-8.3%) declined the most. Following today’s losses, we expect some bargain hunting in bellwethers to drive performance in subsequent trading sessions.

Market Statistics Thursday, 31st January 2019

Market Cap (N’bn)                                   11,614.3

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                     37.2

NSE All-Share Index                               30,557.2

Daily Performance %                                     (1.9)

1 Week Performance %                                  1.4

YTD Performance %                                      (2.8)

Daily Volume (Million)                                  348.8

Daily Value (N’bn)                                            3.5

Daily Value (US$’m)                                       11.4