Renewed Sell Pressure on NB Drags Nigerian Bourse… NSE ASI down 30bps

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The All Share Index was unable to sustain yesterday’s positive performance as it fell 30bps to close at 25,055.29 points following renewed sell pressure on NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-3.8%). Consequently, YTD loss worsened to -6.8%, while market capitalisation declined by N25.9bn to settle at N8.7tn. Market activity also softened as volume and value traded dipped 10.8% and 14.6% to 144.4m units and N1.5bn respectively.

Bears Retain Grip on FMCGs
Despite the decline in the broader market index, sector performance was mixed as 3 sector indices advanced while 2 declined. The Consumer Goods index fell 1.7% – pressured by losses in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-3.8%) – while the Insurance index shed 0.8% on account of losses in MANSARD (-4.4%). On the gainers side, the Banking index added 40bps due to gains in GUARANTY (+0.8) and ACCESS(+0.5%) while the Oil & Gas index closed 5bps higher as OANDO rose 0.9%. The Industrial Goods index closed the day flat.

Investor Sentiment Improves but Still in Negative Territory
Investor sentiment remained weak today as market breadth settled at 0.9x (from 0.7x yesterday) after 16 stocks advanced against 17 declining stocks. The best performing stocks were JBERGER (+5.0%),NEIMETH (+4.5%) and FBNH (+4.4%), while UACN (-5.0%), VITAFOAM (-4.8%) and JOHNHOLT (-4.5%) were the worst performers. As sentiment remains driven by the macroeconomic environment, we do not expect a near term recovery in equity prices despite seemingly cheap valuation.