Nigerian Equity Markets | 19 Nov 2015: Equity Sell down Moderates as Breadth Rebounds …NSE sheds 6bps

Lagos, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — The Nigeria All Share Index continued the southbound course today to extend losses to the 4th trading session. The index dipped 6bps to 28,203.20pts while YTD loss remained 18.6%. Bellwethers that furthered the decline in the benchmark index were NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-0.5%), OANDO (-5.0%) and GUARANTY (-0.4%). Investors lost N5.6bn as market capitalization closed at N9.7tn. Market activity showed mixed signals today; volume traded increased 21.8% to 175.0m units while value traded decreased 27.5% to N1.1bn.

On account of the 5.0% depreciation in OANDO, the Oil & Gas index declined the most by 0.6%. Bargain hunting in CAP (-4.9%) saw the Industrial Goods index to a 0.1% slide from the previous close. The Insurance Index shed 7bps as AIICO depreciated 1.1%. Waning sentiment in GUARANTY (-0.4%) and FCMB (-3.1%) drove the 6bps decrease in the Banking index. Against the backdrop of losses in DANGOTE SUGAR (-1.6%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-0.5%), the Consumer Goods index shed 1bps.

Market breadth settled at 1.2x as 17 stocks appreciated while 14 stocks declined. Leading the top gainers were PZ (+5.0%), CADBURY (+5.0%) and PORTPAINT (-4.9%) while the top losers were led by OANDO (-5.0%), CAP (-4.9%) and DANGOTE FLOUR (-4.9%). The rebound in market breadth suggests bargain hunters are already taking a position. However, as investors continue to await a sign of reprieve in macroeconomic condition and improvement in company earnings, we maintain that fundamental retail investors’ with a short holding period trade with caution. Despite the decline in earnings, current market valuation of stocks still presents a sizeable upside for long term investor.

Source: Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited Research Team