Sell pressure persist as investors lost N11.1bn 

Despite the positive investor sentiment in the local bourse today, sell pressures in bluechips companies – NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.8%), ETI (-2.0%) and OKOMU (-1.0%) weighed on market performance. As a result, the benchmark index slid 8bps to 32,423.57 points, YTD loss declined to -15.2 per cent while market capitalisation decreased by N11.1 billion to N11.8 trillion. Activity level however improved as volume and value traded advanced 10.6 per cent and 7.8 per cent to 151.1 million units and N1.5 billion respectively. FCMB (28.9m units), FIDELITY (19.1m units) and GUARANTY (18.2m units) led the top traded stocks by volume while GUARANTY (N671.8M), NASCON (N316.3m) and ZENITH (N97.9m) were the top traded stocks by value.

The Oil & Gas index led today’s gainers, rising 0.5% due to price appreciation in FORTE (+3.2) and OANDO (+3.5%). The Industrial Goods and Banking indices trailed, up 0.4 per cent apiece on the back of bargain hunting in CCNN (+7.8%), ZENITH (+2.8%) and GUARANTY (+0.1%). On the flip side, the Consumer Goods and Insurance indices lost 0.7 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively following sell pressures in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.8%), DANGSUGAR (-1.0%), WAPIC (-5.1%) and NIGERINS (-9.7%).

Investor sentiment measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) stayed positive at 1.1x as 19 stocks appreciated against 18 that declined. The best performing stocks were CUTIX (+10.0%), SOVRENINS (+9.1%) and AGLEVENT (+8.1%) while NIGERINS (-9.7%), NEIMETH (-9.2%) and ROYALEX (-9.1%) led the worst performers. Although performance was negative, we expect a rebound tomorrow as sentiment remains positive. We believe investors will hunt for bargains in fundamentally sound stocks that have declined in prior sessions.

Market Statistics Thursday, 4th October 2018

Market Cap (N’bn)                                         11,837.1

Market Cap (US$’bn)                                           38.66

NSE All-Share Index                                     32,423.57

Daily Performance %                                            (0.1)

Week Performance %                                          (1.0)

YTD Performance %                                           (15.2)

Daily Volume (Million)                                         151.14

Daily Value (N’bn)                                                   1.6

Daily Value (US$’m)                                               5.04