Nigeria Market Watch | May 20th 2015: Nigerian Equities Market shed 0.5% and market cap declined N58.7bn

Lagos, Nigeria (Capital Markets in Africa):- The Nigerian Equities Market shed 0.5% to close at 34,533.40pts due to losses in bellwether stocks such as GUARANTY (-2.3%) and NESTLE (-2.8%). Similarly, market capitalization declined N58.7bn to berth at N11.3tn. Nonetheless, market activity measured by volume and value traded increased significantly by 426.8% (1.9bn units) and 32.4% (N5.5bn). The unusual spike in volume traded was majorly due to the 1.5bn units (21.5% of LASACO‘s shares outstanding) of LASACO shares traded today-which were executed in four deals. Our information sources reveal that the transaction represents a cross deal between the subsidiaries of Ibile Holdings (IHL Properties Limited and IHL Ventures Limited) to the parent for effective portfolio management.

Insurance Index Leads Sector Performance
Sector performance today was mixed. The Banking index led losses by 0.7% due to price depreciation in GUARANTY (-2.3%) and ETI (-1.8%). The Consumer Goods index also shed 0.7% on the back of losses in NESTLE (-2.8%) and PZ (-1.1%). In like manner, the Industrial Goods index declined 0.2%. On the other hand, the Insurance index extended yesterday’s gains closing 0.1% higher on gains in NEM (+9.1%) even as the Oil & Gas index added 3bps at the close of market.

Market Expected to Rebound
Market breadth was negative (0.6x) as 20 stocks advanced while 35 declined. SKYEBANK (+10.0%), NEM (+9.1%) and ACADEMY (+5.0%) led the advancers while NCR (-9.6%), PRESCO (-5.0%) and BETAGLASS (-4.7%) led the decliners. We expect the market to soften in sessions ahead as events leading to the May 29^th hand over unfold.