Nigerian Equity Markets | 15 Sep 2015 : Nigerian Equities take a Breather… ASI pullback 0.2%

Lagos, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — The Nigerian equities market took a breather today after the strong rally recorded yesterday, as the benchmark index declined 0.2% to close at 30,311.77 points, whilst market capitalization also fell N20.0bn to close at N10.4tn. The pullback in the benchmark index was majorly against the backdrop of profit-taking activities in Banking stocks – GUARANTY (-2.5%), STANBIC (-3.4%) – and GUINNESS (-3.2%). Market activity was however mixed, as aggregate volume rose 62.5% to 413.9m units whilst aggregate value declined 38.6% N2.4bn, an indication that investors were very active on penny stocks today. 

Sector performance was also mixed today. The Insurance index surged 3.8% to lead advancers on strong rally in MANSARD (+9.8%) and CONTINSURE (+9.3%). The Industrial Goods index trailed with a softer gain of 0.4% as the index was buoyed by WAPCO (+1.0%) despite profit taking in DANGOTE CEMENT (-0.1%) and CCNN (-3.8%). The Banking index fell 0.9% to lead decliners — pressured by the loss in GURANTY (-2.5%) which offsets gains recorded in ZENITH (+1.6%) and FBNH (+2.4%).  The Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices both closed 0.1% down apiece.

Market breadth measured by advancers/decliners ratio weakened to 0.7x today (19 gainers’ vs. 29 losers’) relative to 3.8x yesterday. Top gainers today includes MANSARD (+9.8%), CAVERTON (+9.4%) and CONTISURE (+9.3%) whilst Van Leer Containers Plc (-5.0%), Union Homes (-4.9%) and PZ (-4.8%) led losses. Whilst today’s bearish close was majorly due to profit-taking, we anticipate investors to trade cautiously in the sessions ahead as the market await the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decision on interest rate on Thursday.

Source: Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited Research Team