Nigeria Market Watch | May 25th 2015: Nigerian equity market extends losses to 5th day

Lagos, Nigeria (Capital Markets in Africa):- The Nigerian Bourse fell 0.4% at the close of market today and berthed at 34,151.81 points. The NSE ASI sustained decline largely due to the price depreciation in NESTLE (-1.3%), ZENITH (-1.1%) and UBN (-4.3%). Market capitalization also shed N40.9bn to close at N11.6tn. Market activity however improved as volume and value rose 9.1% and 33.1% to 220.5m units and N2.7bn respectively.

WAPCO Drives Gains in Industrial Index
The Industrial Index appreciated 0.1% on the back of rally in WAPCO (+0.4%). All other sectors closed in the red. The Banking index led the sector decliners, down 0.7% against the backdrop of declines in ZENITH (-1.1%), UBN (-1.1%) and FBN HOLDINGS (-1.6%). The Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas Indices both slipped 0.1% while the Insurance index declined 1 basis point.

Market Breadth Remains Negative
Market breadth closed negative (0.8x) as 21 stocks advanced against 26 stocks. VONO (+9.8%), NEIMETH (+5.0%) and BETAGLAS (4.7%) led the advancers while ABCTRANS (-5.3%), UBN (-4.3%) and DANGOTE FLOUR (-3.9%) led the decliners. We expect the Nigerian Stock market to trade sideways ahead of the policy direction of the incoming government.

Source: Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited Research Team.