Sell pressure in Bellwethers drags NSE as ASI down 77bps

Today, the bearish sentiment persisted in the local bourse as sell pressures in bellwethers – GUARANTY (-2.7%), DANGCEM (-0.4%), STANBIC (-2.6%) and ZENITH (-1.6%) – led the All Share Index (ASI) to decline by 0.8% to 35,086.67 points. Consequently, YTD loss worsened to -8.3% while market capitalization fell by N99.4bn to N12.8tn. Activity level however, was mixed as volume traded declined 17.5% to 284.6m units while value traded rose 51.9% to N3.4bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were UBA (57.1m), NEM (45.3m) and ACCESS (30.7m) while NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N1.0bn), GUARANTY (N0.6bn) and UBA (N0.5bn) were the top traded stocks by value.

Across sectors, performance was largely bearish as 4 of 5 indices closed south. The Industrial Goods index led decliners, down 2.3%, as investor took profits in DANGCEM (-0.4%) and WAPCO (-7.1%). In addition, the Banking index fell 1.8%, following sell pressures in GUARANTY (-2.7%), STANBIC (-2.6%) and ZENITH (-1.6%) while the Insurance and Oil & Gas indices lost 1.5% and 0.8% respectively on the back of investors’ exit in CONTINSURE (-4.1%), PRESTIGE (-8.8%), FORTE (-7.8%) and OANDO (-2.8%). On the flipside, the Consumer Goods index – today’s sole gainer – rose 0.2%, following price appreciations in GUINNESS (+5.6%) and HONEYFLOUR (+1.3%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) further weakened to 0.4x from 1.9x recorded yesterday as 11 stocks advanced against 27 decliners. The best performers were NEM (+10.0%), LIVESTOCK (+9.3%) and JAPUALOIL (+8.0%) while MANSARD (-9.8%), INTENEGINS (-9.5%) and DIAMOND (-9.4%) were the laggards. Today’s bearish performance in the market was largely due to profit taking in bellwethers and market reaction to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) fine on listed Nigerian banks STANBIC (-2.6%) and DIAMOND (-9.4%). Tomorrow, we expect an upturn as investors take positions in bellwethers with attractive entry prices.

Market Statistics Thursday, 30th August 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                               12,809.3

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                 41.8

NSE All-Share Index                          35,086.67

Daily Performance %                                 (0.4)

Week Performance %                                (0.5)

YTD Performance %                                  (8.3)

Daily Volume (Million)                              284.6

Daily Value (N’bn)                                       3.4

Daily Value (US$’m)                                 11.3