Nigerian Equity Markets | 30 Sep 2015: Nigerian Equities Stays Bullish Ahead of ‘The List’ …NSE ASI up 1.3%

Lagos, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — The Nigerian Equities market sustained its upward trend at the close of trading today as massive buying activity in some blue chip stocks few minutes to the close of trading lifted the Benchmark index 1.3% higher to close at 31, 217.7pts. As a result MTD return settled at 5.2% while YTD return eased to –9.9%. The major stocks that drove market performance were DANGOTE CEMENT (+4.7%), ACCESS (+2.6%) and NESTLE (+1.2%). Investors’ value increased by N135.0bn hence, market capitalization settled at N10.7tn. Activity level was mixed as volume traded depreciated 41.1% to 417.0m units while value traded improved 108.5% to N5.2bn.

Performance across the various sectors was mixed as Industrial Sector and Consumer Goods Indices appreciated 2.6% and 0.3% each on account of gains in DANGOTE CEMENT (+4.7%) for the former and NESTLE (+1.2%) for the latter. On the flipside, the Banking sector Index depreciated the most (-0.5%) consequent on losses in GUARANTY (-1.2%) and ZENITH (-1.2%). In the same vein, the Oil & Gas and the Insurance indices declined 0.4% and 0.1% respectively.

Sentiments within the market remained relatively unchanged today as market breadth (Advancers/Decliners ratio) settled at 0.8x following 22 stocks advancing against 26 declining stocks. The best performing stocks at the close of trading were HONYFLOUR (+9.8%), VONO (+6.7%) and UPL (+4.9%) while REDSTAREX (-5.0%), PORTPAINT (-4.9%) and TRANSEXPRESS (-4.7%). We believe the continued uptrend observed in the market in September remained premised on investors’ expectation for announcement of the ministerial list by the Buhari led Government. While investors continue to await the list which is yet to be publicized as at close of business today, we advise investors to stay bullish on stocks with sound fundamentals.

Source: Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited Research Team