ASI Down 1bp as investors gain N95 billion
Market index slide marginally but investors gained N95 billion as market capitalisation hit N1.7 trillion at the close of trading on Tuesday. Already, market observers are saying sentiment improved and is expected to get better as the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central bank of Nigeria slashed the monetary pricing rate.
It was noted that in spite of bargain hunting activities in DANGCEM (+0.8%) and ZENITH (+0.9%), sell pressures in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-3.6%), ETI (-3.3%) and UBN (-2.1%) dragged the All Share Index (ASI) 1bp lower to 31,038.86 points while YTD return stood at -1.2%. However, investors gained N95.0bn in value as market capitalisation rose to N11.7 trillion.
Activity level weakened as volume and value traded fell 14.8% and 55.2% to 143.6 million units and N1.7 billion respectively.
The top traded stocks by volume were FBNH (29.7 million units), ACCESS (16.3 million units) and UBA (11.8 million units) while DANGCEM (N379.3 million), FBNH (N243.3 million) and GUARANTY (N186.7 million) led the top trades by value.
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Across sectors, performance was mixed as 3 of 5 indices under our coverage trended northward. The Insurance index led gainers, up 0.9%, following gains in NEM (+6.3%) while the Oil & Gas index trailed, inching higher 0.5%, due to price appreciation in OANDO(+1.8%) and MOBIL (+1.8%).
In the same vein, buying interest in DANGCEM (+0.8%) buoyed the Industrial Goods index by 0.4%. On the flip side, the Consumer Goods index led decliners, down 0.5%, due to sell pressures in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-3.6%), PZ(-2.9%) and HONYFLOUR (-0.8%).
Finally, losses in ETI (-3.3%) and UBN (-2.1%) dragged the Banking index 0.4% lower.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 0.9x from 0.6x recorded the previous day as 18 stocks advanced relative to 20 stocks that declined.
Top outperforming stocks were CADBURY (+9.6%), NEM (+6.3%) and LIVESTOCK (+5.0%) while WEMABANK (-6.2%), PRESCO (-5.1%) and UPL (-5.0%) led laggards.
Despite today’s loss, investor sentiment improved slightly, albeit still soft. Hence, we envisage a mild uptick in performance in tomorrow’s trading session while maintaining a bearish outlook in the near term
ASI Down 1bp as investors gain N95 billion
