Nigerian Breweries Buoys Market Performance…NSE ASI marginally up 1bp

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Nigerian equities market closed flat as the All Share Index rose 1bp to settle at 25, 251.63 points, while YTD loss of the index was unchanged at -6.0%. The major drivers of the positive performance today were NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+4.3%), FBNH (+3.2%) and ACCESS(+2.5%) as market capitalisation rose N741.4m to N8.7tn. Activity level strengthened as volume and value traded rose 26.9% and 181.1% to 131.2m units and N2.8bn respectively.

Mixed Sector Performance
Performance across sectors was mixed as 2 sector indices advanced while 3 declined. The Consumer Goods index appreciated the most, up 1.5% as a rally in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+4.3%) buoyed the index. Similarly, the Insurance index advanced 0.5% following gains in CUSTODIAN (+4.9%) and CONTINSURE (+3.8%). On the other hand, the Industrial Goods index declined the most, losing 2.1% on the back of price depreciation in WAPCO (-5.0%). Similarly, the Oil & Gas index lost 1.5% as FORTE (-5.4%) and SEPLAT (-2.6%) declined. In the same vein, the Banking index slid 0.6%.

Investor Sentiment Weakens
Despite the marginal uptrend in the benchmark index, investor sentiment softened as market breadth weakened from 0.6x yesterday to 0.4x – 11 stocks advanced while 21 declined. The top gainers were CUSTODIAN (+4.9%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+4.3%) and CONTINSURE (+3.8%) while FORTE (-5.4%), DANGFLOUR (-5.1%) and UNILEVER (-5.0%) declined the most. As reflected in today’s performance, investors’ appetite for equities remains weak. Hence, we expect a bearish performance in the trading session ahead barring the release of any positive earnings result(s)

Source: Afrinvestor Research Team Nigeria,