Nigeria Equity Watch | 2 July 2015 : Nigerian Bourse Records Soft Readings…NSE ASI down 38bps.

Lagos, Nigeria (Capital Markets in Africa) — The Nigerian Bourse sustained bearish trend although at a rate lower than the previous session as the NSE ASI eased 0.4% further to settle at 32,739.11 points. Market capitalization shed N42.4bn and closed at N11.2tn. Today’s decline was driven majorly by losses in UNILEVER (-1.1%) and 7UP (-1.6%). Similarly, Market value and volume traded declined 62.6% and 42.3% to berth at N1.8bn and 186.7m units respectively.

The Oil & Gas index rose 0.7% on the back of price appreciation in FORTE OIL (+1.1%) and SEPLAT (+0.9%). The consumer Goods index waned the most, down 1.3% as a result of losses in 7UP (-1.6%) and UNILEVER (-1.1%).  The Insurance index shed 1.1% due to depreciation in MANSARD (4.6%). The Banking index extended decline to third day as it went down 0.3%. The Industrial Goods index also closed red to 0.2%.

Market breadth was negative at 0.8x (advancers/decliners ratio) as 23 stocks advanced while 29 stocks declined. Top gainers were PZ (+5.0%), PORTPAINT (+4.9%) and ACADEMY (+4.6%) while top losers were TRANSCOHOT (-9.7%), REDSTAREX (-5.0%) and CHAMPION (-5.0%). We expect the market to close the week negative on sustained speculation in the market, hence we advise cautious trading.