Nigerian Equity Markets | 17 Nov 2015: Equity Market Continues Slippery Slide Downhill…NSE ASI down 64bps

Lagos, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — The bearish sentiment in the Nigerian Bourse continued as sustained sell-offs drove the All Share Index down 0.6% to berth at 28,351.28 points. The negative performance today was broadly driven by losses in  FBNH (-7.5%),  GUINNESS (-5.0%) and  NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.4%) even as market capitalization fell N62.4bn to N9.7tn. Activity level in the market was mixed today as volume traded dipped 35.7% to130.0m units while value traded appreciated 129.2% to close at N2.5bn. 

All sectors closed in the red today led by the Consumer Goods Index, which lost 1.3% broadly on the back of sell pressure in GUINNESS (-5.0%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.4%). The Oil & Gas and the Insurance Indices followed suit, depreciating 0.9% and 0.5% respectively due to losses in OANDO (-4.6%) and CONTINSURE (-4.8%). The Banking and Industrial Goods Indices closed out the poor performance losing 20bps and 1bp respectively.

Investor sentiments towards the market improved today, though still negative as Market Breadth (advancers/decliners ratio) settled at 0.6x consequent on 14 stocks advancing against 24 declining stocks. LIVESTOCK (+5.0%), PORTPAINT (+4.8%) and TRANSCORP (+4.4%) topped the gainers chart, while UAC-PROP (-9.6%), DANGFLOUR (-9.5%) and FBNH (-7.5%) topped the laggards chart. Given the moderation in losses today, compared to yesterday, we expect some level of bargain hunting in the session ahead. Nevertheless, short-term fundamental investors will still continue to hold out whilst we maintain that investors trade cautiously especially for short-term investments.

Source: Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited Research Team