Bears Strengthen Hold on Nigerian Equities Market…NSE ASI down 69bps

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The bearish sentiment in the local bourse was extended today as sustained profit taking by investors pulled the All Share Index 0.7% lower to 26, 036.24 points while YTD loss worsened to –3.1%. Sell-offs in market bellwethers – NESTLE (- 3.1%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.6%) and GUARANTY (-1.1%) – were the major drag to performance as market capitalisation also dipped N47.7bn to N9.0tn. However, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded grew 43.4% and 265.5% to 205.8m units and N2.8bn respectively.

Broadly Bearish Performance across Sectors
The Industrial Goods index was the lone gainer today, advancing 0.6% on account of gains in WAPCO (+1.4%). On the flipside, the Consumer Goods index dipped the most, falling 1.4% on the back of price depreciation in NESTLE (-3.1%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.6%). The Banking and Oil & Gas indices closely trailed, sliding 1.3% apiece. Furthermore, in the Oil & Gas sector, FORTE OIL released its FY:2016 result today; Gross Revenue grew 19.3% Y-o-Y to N148.6bn while PAT declined 50.3% to N2.9bn. The Insurance index fell 0.8% as losses in CONTINSURE (-4.3%) and MANSARD (-0.6%) pulled the index southwards.

Sentiment Stays Soft
Investor sentiment improved today, albeit still negative, as market breadth settled at 0.7x (from 0.5x yesterday) following 16 stocks that advanced while 24 declined. The Gainers chart was topped by UNILEVER (+6.3%), AFRIPRUD (+4.3%) and CAVERTON (+4.2%) while PZ (-5.0%), OANDO (-4.9%) and CONTINSURE (-4.3%) led the laggards’ list. Following two consecutive days of declines, we believe investors could start to take advantage of some bargain opportunities, hence the current downtrend is expected to be reversed in the trading sessions ahead

Source: Afrinvestor Research Nigeria