Nigerian Equity Markets | 24 Feb 2016: Equities Slide on Banking Stocks Rout… NSE ASI sheds 0.9%

Lagos, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa —The Nigerian bourse closed southwards to extend losses to the 3^rd trading session amid sell-offs in banking and consumer goods bellwethers. The All Share Index declined 0.9% settling at 23,883.34 points. The negative market performance was broadly driven by price depreciation in GUARANTY (-3.8%), ZENITH (-5.0%) and GUINNESS (-5.0%). The market lost N68.4bn in value as market capitalization reduced to N8.2tn. Activity level was mixed as volume grew 33.6% while value traded dipped 3.3% to 269.3m units and N1.2bn respectively. 

Banking Sector Leads Losers 
The Oil & Gas index led sector gainers as it closed up by a marginal 2bps on gains in MOBIL (+0.3%). On the flipside, the Banking Index dipped the most, down 3.0% against the backdrop of a rout in banking stocks triggered by a profit warning issued by FBNH (-4.4%). Losses in MANSARD (-4.8%) and GUINNESS (-4.9%) pulled the Insurance Index and the Consumer Goods Indices down 1.0% and 0.8% respectively. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.

Negative Market Sentiments
Market breadth measured by the ratio of advancers and decliners settled at 0.6x (relative to 0.5 in the previous trading session) as 13 stocks advanced while 23 declined. Top gainers includes AFRIPRUD (+5.0%), CUTIX (+4.6%) and ETERNA (+4.5%) while FCMB (-6.2%), ZENITH (-5.0%) and GUINNESS (-5.0%) depreciated the most. Against the negative corporate news flow in the market hitting investors’ confidence, we expect sentiment to remain dampened in subsequent trading sessions. This would, however, present an opportunity for strategic positioning in dividend paying counters by income investors. Overall, the market will continue to trade sideways as more earnings result are awaited.

Source: Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited Research Team