The downtrend in the domestic equities market was sustained in today’s session as the benchmark index slid 0.8% to settle at 32,108.92 points while YTD loss worsened to -16.7%. In the same vein, market capitalisation reduced by N89.1bn to N11.6tn while the major drags to performance were GUARANTY (-6.7%), INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES (-10.0%) and ZENITH (-3.1%). However, activity level was mixed as value traded declined by 1.8% to N2.5bn while volume traded increased by 52.3% to 349.2m units. STANBIC (N724.7m), GUARANTY (N423.5m) and ZENITH (N219.3m) led the top traded stocks by value while FCMB (34.7m), STANBIC (15.1m) and UBA (13.6m) were the top traded stocks by volume.
Sector performance was broadly bearish as 4 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the red. The Banking index lost the most, losing 3.3% on the back of sell-offs in GUARANTY (-6.6%), ZENITH (-3.1%) and UBA (-2.5%) while the Industrial Goods index weakened by 0.4% following losses in WAPCO (-1.8%). Similarly, the Insurance and Oil & Gas indices slid 0.1% apiece due to price depreciation in AIICO (-3.0%) and MOBIL (-0.7%). The Consumer Goods index was the sole gainer, advancing 0.5% as gains in NESTLE (+3.5%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.6%) and DANGSUGAR (+0.4%) buoyed the index.
Investor sentiment softened today as market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.5x from 1.1x yesterday following 10 stocks that advanced against 21 that declined. The gainers’ chart was topped by JAIZ (+7.5%), JAPAULOIL (+5.0%) and UBN (+4.1%) while MEYER (-10.0%) UACPROP (-10.0%) and INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES (-10.0%) shed the most. As investor sentiment on equities remains weak we expect the domestic bourse to end the trading week in the red.
Market Statistics Thursday, 15th November 2018
Market Cap (N’bn) 11,633.1
Market Cap (US$’bn) 38.0
NSE All-Share Index 31,864.80
Daily Performance % (0.8)
Week Performance % (1.1)
YTD Performance % (16.7)
Daily Volume (Million) 349.2
Daily Value (N’bn) 2.5
Daily Value (US$’m) 8.0