Nigeria Stock Market Consumer Goods Index Marginally Drives Index Higher, NSE ASI up 3bps

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Nigerian bourse opened the week slightly positive as bargain hunting in the Brewers drove the index to a close of 26,231.37 points, up 3bps. Although sustained sell-down pressure on NESTLE (-3.4%) remained a drag, renewed investor interest in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.7%), GUINNESS(+2.2%) and OANDO (+3.9%) buoyed market performance as market capitalization added N2.7bn to close at N9.0tn. Similarly, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded improved 12.5% and 27.5% to 228.6m units and N2.6bn respectively.

Mixed Performance across Sectors
Performance across sectors was mixed today as the Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices gained 14bps and 4bps on the back of bargain hunting in OANDO (+3.9%), TOTAL (+2.1%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.7%) and GUINNESS (+2.2%) while the Industrial Goods index marginally added 1bp. On the flip side, the Banking index lost 3bps consequent on profit taking in Tier-1 counters – GUARANTY(-0.3%) and ZENITH (-0.3%) – which offset gains in ACCESS (+0.7%) and DIAMOND (+3.9%). The Insurance index closed flat.

Investor Sentiment Remains Positive
Investor sentiment remained positive today, although slightly weakened, as market breadth settled at 1.3x (from 1.9x on Friday) with 19 stocks advancing against 15 decliners. The best performers wereUAC-PROP (+4.9%), CUTIX (+4.4%) and OANDO (+3.9 %) while MAYBAKER (-4.9 %), HONYFLOUR(-4.8%), and LIVESTOCK (-4.7%) declined the most. Despite the modest benchmark index gain, we note the rally currently ongoing in small- to mid-cap stocks which continue to defy the weak macroeconomic sentiment. We expect that segment of the market to continue to outperform whilst still conservative on aggregate market performance.

Source: Afrinvestor Research Nigeria