The Nigerian equities market opened the week on a bearish note as the All Share Index (ASI) shed 45bps to close at 44,261.72 points while year to date YTD, return moderated to 15.7 per cent. Accordingly, market capitalisation fell by N71.2 billion to settle at N15.8 trillion. Today’s negative performance was largely due to losses in DANGCEM (-2.9%), UBA (-3.1%) and FBNH (-1.8%). On a similar note, activity level softened as volume and value traded fell 32.3% and 19.6% to 426.8 million units and N2.8 billion respectively.
Sector performance was mixed as 3 of 5 indices closed in the red while 2 trended northwards. The Industrial Goods index was the top loser, down 1.3 per cent primarily on the back of price depreciation in DANGCEM (-2.9%). The Oil & Gas index (-1.3%) was dragged following losses in FORTE (-4.9%). Similarly, profit taking in NASCON (-2.3%) and DANGFLOUR (-1.2%) pulled the Consumer Goods index 0.7 per cent southwards. On the flip side, the Insurance index was the top gainer, up 1.6 per cent as buy interest in AIICO (+10.0%), AFRIPRUD (+4.0%) and LINKASSURE (+5.9%) buoyed performance. Also, the Banking index closed the day positive, up 1.4 per cent as investors took position in ZENITH (+2.2%) and GUARANTY (+0.6%).
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) stood at 0.6x as 22 stocks advanced against 34 decliners. Today’s top performers were AIICO (+10.0%), PRESTIGE (+8.3%) and LINKASSURE (+5.9%) while UNIC (-8.7%), HMARKINS (-8.3%) and SKYE (-5.6%) were the worst performers. Despite the negative performance today, our near-term outlook on performance remains positive as investors continue to seek for bargain opportunities in anticipation of full year earnings releases.
In the NASD OTC Exchange, total volume and value traded stood at 115,612 units and N1.7m respectively. The SDCSCSPLC, SDMASSTCOM and SDFCWAMCO were the only instruments that traded today
Market Statistics Monday, 5th February 2018
Market Cap (N’bn) 15,888.6
Market Cap (US$’bn) 51.9
NSE All-Share Index 44,261.72
Daily Performance % (0.4)
Week Performance % (0.1)
YTD Performance % 15.7
Daily Volume (Million) 426.9
Daily Value (N’bn) 2.8
Daily Value (US$’m) 9.0
